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PRINCETON,    N.  J. 


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Purchased    by  the 
Mrs,    Robert   Lenox    Kennedy  Church   History   Fund. 


Bv   .::  --C    .:: ."   .;  ^  .3 

Reid,  J.  M.  1820-1896. 
Missions  and  missionary 
society  of  the  Methodist 


-% 


MISSIONS  AND  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

OK  THE 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


Three  Volumes.    Cloth.    12mo.    With   I^Iaps,  etc. 


VOL.  I.  Contains  Part  I.  Organization  and  Ad- 
ministration. Part  II.  Missions  Within 
the  United  States  or  in  their  Immediate 
Vicinity.  Part  III.  Missions  in  Africa. 
Part  IV.  Missions  in  South  America. 
Part  V.  Missions  in  China,  and  the  Chi- 
nese. 

VOL.  2.  Contains  continuation  of  Part  V.  Missions 
in  China.  Part  VI.  Missions  in  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Russia. 
Part  VII.  Missions  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland.  Part  VIII.  Missions  in 
India. 

VOL.  3.  Contains  continuation  of  Part  VIII.  Mis- 
sions in  India.  Part  IX.  Mission  in 
Malaysia.  Part  X.  Mission  in  Bulgaria. 
Part  XI.  Mission  in  Italy.  Part  XII. 
■  Mission  in  Mexico.  Part  XIII.  Mission 
in  Japan.  Part  XIV.  Mission  in  Korea. 
Appendix. 


-^ 


MISSIONS 

AND 

MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 

OF   THE 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

BY   J.   M.   nEID,   D.D 

REVISED  AND  EXTENDED 

BY    J.    T.     GRACEY,    D.D 

IN    THREE    VOLUMES 

VOL.     Ill 
WITH    MAPS    AND    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW    YORK  :     HUNT    &    EATON 
CINCINNATI:  CRANSTON  &  CURTS 


Copyright  by 

HUNT  &   EATON. 

1896. 


Ci.mpnsition,  electrotypiiic;, 
printing,  and  binding  by 

HiiNT  &  Eaton, 
150  Fifth  Ave,  New  York. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  VIII.— Continued. 

MISSIONS  TO  INDIA Pages  9-170 

India  Mission  Conference  Organized,  9 ;  Other  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  the  Mission,  17;  North  India  Conference,  1879-1881,  22; 
North  India  Conference,  1882-1883,  28  ;  North  India  Conference, 
1884,  39 ;  North  India  Conference,  1885,  42  ;  North  India  Confer- 
ence, 1886-1887,  46;  North  India  Conference,  i888,  50;  North 
India  Conference,  1889-1890,  52  ;  North  India  Conference,  1891, 
60;  North  India  Conference,  1892-1894,  67  ;  Northwest  India  Con- 
ference, 75;  Great  Evangelistic  Development,  1888-1893,  80  ;  Bareil- 
ly  Theological  Seminary,  1879-1894,  gi  ;  Reid  Christian  College, 
Lucknow,  too;  Literary  and  Publishing  Interests,  no;  Sunday- 
Schools  and  Non-Christians.  115  ;  South  India  Conference,  1876- 
1880,  117;  South  India  Conference,  1881-1885,  122,  South  India 
Conference,  1886-1892,  128  ;  Publishing  House  in  Madras,  146  ; 
Bengal  Conference,  1884-1892,  150;  Bengal-Burma  Conference, 
1893-1894,  157  ;  Bombay  Conference,  1892-1894,  162  ;  The  Central 
Conference,  166. 

PART   IX. 
MALAYSIA  MISSION 171-199 

Preparatory,  171;  Malaysia  Mission  Organized,  180;  Malaysia 
Mission  Conference  Organized,  193. 

PART   X. 

MISSION  TO  BULGARIA 201-272 

Preparatory  Steps,  201  ;  Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located, 
203  ;  Tultcha  and  the  Molokans,  211  ;  Native  Workers  and  Various 
Struggles,  219  ;    Bishop    Thomson  and    Brighter   Days,    222 ;    The 


6  Contents. 

Lipovans  and  Others,  225  ;  rersecution,  Discouragements,  Retire- 
ment, 229  ;  Return  Reinforced,  232  ;  Episcopal  Visits  to  Bulgaria, 
234  ;  During  tiie  War,  236  ;  After  the  War,  242  ;  Persecutions,  251  ; 
War  Again,  261;   Mission  Conference  Organized,  270. 

PART    XI. 
MISSION  TO  ITALY 273-334 

Projection,  1832-1S70,  273  ;  Preparation,  1871-1872,  276  ;  Plant- 
ing, 1873,  282;  Progress,  1S74-1878,  286;  Annual  Conference, 
299  ;  Annual  Conferences,  18S2-1885,  306 ;  Annual  Conferences, 
1886-1S87,  315;  Annual  Conferencts,  1888-1889,  320;  Annual 
Conferences,  1890-1892,  328  ;  Annual  Conferences,  1893,  332. 

PART   XII. 

MISSION  TO  MEXICO 335-404 

Introductory,  335  ;  Hindrances  Removed,  336  ;  Retribution,  344  ; 
Reforms,  346 ;  Purchase  of  Property,  347 ;  Tried  by  Fire,  356 ; 
Puebla,  361  ;  Miraflores,  565  ;  Orizaba,  366;  Guanajuato,  367  ;  Sun- 
dry Matters,  374;  Annual  Conference  Organized,  381;  Annual 
Conference,  18S6-18S7,  386  ;  Evangelical  Assembly,  390 ;  Annual 
Conference,  188S-1889,  391  ;  Annual  Conference,  1890-1894,  395  ; 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  399  ;  The  Press,  403. 

PART   XIII. 

MISSION  TO  JAPAN 405-4S8 

Previous  History  of  Japan,  405  ;  Establishment  of  the  Mission, 
409  ;  Organization  of  the  Mission,  411  ;  The  Stations,  412  ;  First 
Year  of  Labor,  415  ;  First  Annual  Meeting  and  Second  Year  of  the 
Mission,  418;  Third  Year  of  the  Mission,  424  ;  Fourth  Year  of  the 
Mission,  428  ;  Fifth  Year  of  the  Mission,  434;  Sixth  Year  of  the 
Mission,  439  ;  Bishop  Wiley's  Visitation,  447  ;  Annual  Meetings, 
1879-1881,  451  ;  Annual  Meetings,  1882-1883,  457  ;  Annual  Con- 
ference Organized,  462  ;  Annual  Conferences,  1885-1886,  467  ;  An- 
nual Conferences,  1887-1889,  472;  Annual  Conferences,  1890-1891, 
479;  Annual  Conferences,  1892-1893,  483  ;  Publishing  House,  4S7. 


Contents.  7 

PART  XIV, 
KOREA 4S9-521 

Historical,  4S9  ;  Beginning  the  Mission,  493  ;  First  Annual  Meet- 
ing, 1SS5,  498  ;  Annual  Meeting,  1886-1887,  503  ;  Annual  Meeting, 
1SSS-1890,  510;  Annual  Meeting,  1S91-1893,  517. 


APPENDIX. 


Receipts  from  the  Beginning,  523  ;  Actual  Disbursements  to  For- 
eign Lands,  524  ;  Growtli  in  Membership,  525  ;  Summaiy  of  the 
Domestic  Missions,  1894,  527. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Remington  Hall,  Bareilly,  India 97 

Reid  Christian  College,  Lucknow,  India 107 

Anglo-Chinese  School,  Singapore 185 

Rented  Mission  Premises  at  Shumla 204 

School  House  at  Tultcha 217 

Methodist  Episcopal  School  Building  and  Church  at 

SiSTOF,  Bulgaria 267 

St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Rome 293 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Bologna,  Italy 311 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Milan,  Italy 323 

Headquarters  of  the  Mission  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  Calle  de  Gante,  City  of  Mexico...  349 

Convent  of  San  Domingo 353 

PUEBLA 359 

GoucHER  Hall 473 

School  Building  in  Seoul,  Korea 499 

Po  Goo  Nijo  GoAN,  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Hos- 
pital in  Seoul,  Korea 513 


MAPS. 

The  Straits  Settlements Facing  page  171 


Bulgaria. 

Italy 

Mexico..  . 

Japan 

Korea 


201 
273 
335 
405 
489 


METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  MISSIONS. 


PAET  YIII. -Continued. 

MISSIONS  TO  INDIA. 


18.  India  Mission  Conference  Organized. 

PROVISION  had  been  made  by  the  General  Confer- 
"*-  ence  which  met  in  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1864,  for 
the  organization  of  the  India  work  into  a  Mission  An- 
nual Conference.  The  limitations  of  a  "  Mission  "  Con- 
ference were  not  altogether  grateful  to  the  missionaries, 
and  that  nothing  could  be  done  by  the  proposed  con- 
ference without  the  concurrence  of  the  Bishop  in  charge 
was  positively  repulsive;  however,  they  consented  to  be 
organized  when  they  were  assured  that  Bishop  Thomson 
would  allow  them  to  put  upon  record  a  solemn  protest 
against  this  unwelcome  veto  power  given  to  the  Bishop. 
Among  the  reasons  assigned  for  this  bold  dissent  to  the 
form  of  organization  proposed  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence, was  that  this  left  their  relation  to  the  Church  ill- 
defined.  The  succeeding  General  Conference  swept  all 
these  limitations  away.  The  brethren  met  the  Bishop  at 
Lucknow  on  the  morning  of  December  8,  1864.  After 
the  opening  religious  services,  conducted  by  the  Bishop, 
and  the  holy  communion,  the  Bishop  addressed  the  con- 
ference in  words  glowing  with  beauty  and  flaming  with 
the  missionary  spirit.  The  address  was  published  with 
the  minutes  of  the  Conference.      The   Bishop   recog- 


lo  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

nized  as  members  of  the  conference  Messrs.  Butler, 
Baume,  Judd,  Parker,  Waugh,  Thoburn,  Jackson,  Hau- 
ser,  Messmore,  Gracey,  Thomas,  Brown,  Scott,  Johnson, 
Mansell,  Stivers,  and  Knowles.  All  were  present  but 
J.  M.  Thoburn,  who  was  in  the  United  States,  and  T. 
S.  Stivers,  who  had  not  yet  sailed  for  India.  J.  T 
Gracey  was  elected  secretary,  and  T.  J.  Scott  assistant. 
The  business  then  proceeded  most  harmoniously.  Joel 
T.  Janvier,  Henry  M.  Daniel,  Zahur-ul-Huqq,  and  James 
A.  Cawdell  were  admitted  on  trial,  and  Peachy  T.  Wil- 
son into  full  connection.  On  Sabbath  Samuel  Knowles, 
James  A.  Cawdell,  Joel  T.  Janvier,  and  Henry  M,  Dan- 
iel were  ordained  deacons,  and  Mr.  Knowles  at  the  same 
time  ordained  an  elder.  One  hundred  and  seventeen 
members  of  the  Church  and  ninety-two  probationers 
were  reported.  There  were  also  nine  churches,  valued 
at  $10,780,  and  nineteen  parsonages,  valued  at  $74,880. 
The  latter  embraced  our  orphanages,  sanitarium,  etc. 
There  were  nine  Sunday-schools,  with  thirty-nine  offi- 
cers and  teachers,  and  three  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
scholars.  The  important  measures  of  the  sessions  were 
the  entering  upon  Gurhwal,  to  which  Mr.  Thoburn  was 
appointed ;  the  adding  a  training  school  for  teachers  and 
preachers  to  the  orphanage ;  the  adoption  of  a  course 
of  study  for  the  native  preachers ;  while  advanced  ground 
was  taken  in  respect  to  education  generally,  and  the  pub- 
lishing interests  of  the  mission.  It  may  prove  of  historic 
interest,  and,  therefore,  we  insert  the  appointments  of 
the  first  conference.     They  were  as  follows : — 

MORADABAD   DISTRICT. 

Edwin  W.  Parker,  P.  E. 

Moradabad,  Henry  Mansell ;  Moradabad  Circuit,  E. 
W.  Parker,   Zahur-ul-Huqq ;    Sambhal,   James   Archer 


India  Mission  Conference  Organized.  i  r 

Cawdell;  Bijnour,  Isaiah  L.  Hauser;  Ghurwal,  James 
M.  Thoburn. 

BAREILLY  DISTRICT. 
James  W.  Waugh,  P.  E. 
Bareilly  and  Khaira  Bajairah,  J.  T.  Gracey;  Girls' 
Orphanage,  D.  W,  Thomas,  principal ;  Mission  Press 
James  W  Waugh;  Nynee  Tal,  James  Baume;  Shahje- 
hanpore  and  Boys'  Orphanage,  T.  S.  Johnson,  T.  Stan- 
ley Stivers,  H.  M.  Daniel;  Budaon,  T.  J.  Scott;  Pilib- 
heet,  Joel  T.  Janvier. 

LUCKNOW  DISTRICT. 
Charles  W.  Judd,  P.  E. 

North  Lucknow,  Henry  Jackson,  J,  H,  Messmore; 
South  Lucknow,  C.  W.  Judd,  J.  Fieldbrave;  Seetapore 
and  Luckimpore,  John  D,  Brown ;  Gondah,  Samuel 
Knowles  ;  Roy  Bareilly,  P.  T.  Wilson. 

William  Butler  transferred  to  the  New  England  Con- 
ference. 

The  work  in  Gurwhal  owes  its  origin  to  General  Sir 
Henry  Ramsay.  He  and  Bishop  Thomson  were  riding 
together  at  Nynee  Tal  in  November,  1864,  when  Mr. 
Ramsay  made  liberal  offers  of  money  to  begin  the  work 
in  Gurwhal,  and  at  length  promised  the  sum  of  $1,500, 
with  $25  a  month  more  for  current  expenses.  Mr. 
Thoburn  being  in  the  United  States,  Mr.  Hauser,  aided 
by  Mr.  Mansell,  came  from  Bijnour,  and  prepared  build- 
ings and  began  the  work,  and  Mr.  Mansell,  whose  health 
needed  a  resort  to  the  mountains,  entered  upon  the 
work,  and  maintained  it  till  Mr.  Thoburn 's  return,  in 
1866.     Mr.  Thoburn  then  took  his  assigned  post. 

He  reported  to  the  conference  that  "  he  devoted  his 
time  for  the  most  part  to  talking  with  the  people,  in- 


12  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

quiring  into  their  religious  and  social  condition,  looking 
for  suitable  openings  for  his  work,  circulating  books  and 
tracts,"  etc.  He  made  a  tour  to  the  famous  "  shrine  of 
Kedarnath,  ind  for  some  distance  on  the  way  to  Badri- 
nath,  the  time  being  almost  constantly  employed  in 
talking  with  the  pilgrims." 

The  Government  school  in  Sreenugger  was  now  of- 
fered to  the  mission.  Its  distance  from  Almora  being 
so  great,  the  Government  inspector  found  it  difficult  to 
"give  it  the  careful  supervision  it  required."  Sreenug- 
ger is  the  only  really  bazaar  town  in  the  province,  and 
in  old  times  was  the  home  of  the  Gurhwalee  king. 

A  vegetable  and  fruit  garden,  destined  to  minister 
much  to  the  comfort  of  future  missionaries,  was  begun 
on  the  ample  grounds  which  lie  in  terraces  above  and 
below  the  bungalow.  At  the  close  of  the  year  a  day- 
school  of  thirty  or  more  children  was  in  successful  oper- 
ation, and  also  a  Sunday-school  of  twenty-five,  and  one 
adult  was  baptized.  This  closed  the  first  year  of  Mr. 
Thoburn's  work  in  the  hills. 

In  1867  six  adults,  ten  boys,  (orphans,)  and  two  in- 
fants, were  baptized ;  thus  was  started  "  a  little  Church 
of  thirteen  members  and  probationers."  In  April  the 
Sreenugger  school  was  regularly  transferred  to  the  mis- 
sion, according  to  promise,  and  Thomas  Gowan  (then  an 
ordained  minister  in  our  work  in  Kumaon)  was  appointed 
head-master.  At  the  same  time  houses-were  built  on 
the  Paori  mission  grounds,  for  the  accommodation  of 
such  students  as  might  come  from  a  distance  to  attend 
school.  Thirty  boys  soon  occupied  these  houses,  eight- 
een of  whom  were  aided  in  defraying  the  extra  expense 
of  living  so  far  from  their  homes  by  small  scholarships, 
mostly  given  by  the  local  government.  Two  girls  ap- 
plied for  admittance  to  school  this  year,  and  were  re- 


India  Mission  Conference  Organized.  \  3 

ceived.  One  of  them  was  afterward  baptized,  and  mar- 
ried Harkua  Wilson,  our  excellent  native  doctor,  who 
lived  in  Dwara  Hath,  Kumaon.  Three  small  schools 
for  boys  and  three  for  girls  were  started,  and  the  Sun- 
day-school scholars  increased  to  fifty-four.  The  total 
number  of  children  in  school  was  now  two  hundred  and 
eighty,  of  whom  thirty-three  were  girls.  A  great  many 
Testaments  and  religious  books  and  tracts  were  circu- 
lated that  same  year.  A  little  tract  called  Conversations 
on  Religion,  written  with  special  reference  to  the  needs 
of  our  work  here,  and  which  bore  good  fruit,  added  its 
mite  to  the  many  other  influences  that  were  then  started. 
Our  most  efficient  Gurhwalee  helper  was  given  to  the 
young  Church  that  year.  He  saw  the  daily  life  of  the 
missionary,  and  his  happy  manner,  and  learned  to  love 
him,  and  then  to  love  the  Saviour  whom  the  missionary 
preached.  He  declared,  however,  that  it  was  some 
time  after  his  baptism  before  he  caught  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  with  which  he  became  thoroughly  imbued, 
thus  proving  the  adaptability  of  our  blessed  religion  to 
the  wants  of  these  needy  people. 

In  1868,  after  two  years  of  successful  work  in  this  new 
field,  Dr.  Thoburn  exchanged  stations  with  Rev.  H. 
Mansell,  of  Moradabad.  But  the  work  in  Gurhwal 
continued  to  make  progress,  for  the  new  missionary  did 
not  need  to  be  initiated.  He  knew  the  work,  having 
been  there  before.  Naturally  enthusiastic,  he  brought 
with  him  a  heart  full  of  sympathy  for  the  people.  A 
new  door  of  usefulness  was  now  opened  by  Mrs.  Man- 
sell  among  the  women,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  soon  a 
good  many  sisters  were  numbered  among  the  converts. 
Mrs.  Mansell  lived  to  prosecute  this  work  but  five  brief 
years,  but  her  influence  survived,  and  her  memory 
was  cherished  by  many  who  through  her  learned  of 


14  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  Saviour  of  sinners.  The  seed  hitherto  sown  now 
began  to  bear  fruit,  and  thirteen  adults  and  six  children 
were  baptized.  But  it  was  not  all  smooth  sailing,  for 
discipline  had  to  be  exercised  in  the  removal  from  the 
Church  of  the  names  of  three  offenders.  This  was  only 
what  was  to  be  expected  among  a  people  so  rude  as  the 
material  with  which  we  had  to  build  in  Gurhwal. 

The  parsonage  was  improved,  and  a  little  chapel 
built  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred  dollars.  A  good  deal  of 
the  missionary's  time  was  spent  in  teaching  in  the  large 
school ;  the  neighboring  villages  were  visited,  and  the 
people  preached  to,  but  nearer  home  a  profitable  field 
of  labor  was  found  in  the  infant  Church,  the  training 
of  which  needed  painstaking  effort.  The  orphan  boys 
now  numbered  twelve,  and  there  were  two  orphan  girls 
taken  in,  who  became  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Girls' 
Orphanage. 

It  is  doubtless  well  known  that  all  Hindus  wear  a 
knot  of  hair  on  the  top  of  their  heads,  (corresponding 
to  the  cue  of  the  Chinese.)  The  custom  extends  to  the 
lowest  castes.  To  cut  off  this  "  top-knot "  is  to  cut 
one's  self  loose  from  all  relations  and  all  old  friend.s 
In  the  Gurhwal  mission  it  seems  to  have  been  made  an 
initial  step  to  baptism.  There  could  not  be  to  a  Hindu 
a  surer  test  of  the  sincerity  of  a  man's  purpose  to  become 
a  Christian.  In  the  quarterly  conference  record  of  July 
25,  1868,  it  is  recorded  among  the  signs  of  progress  of 
God's  work  that  four  persons  had  that  quarter  "  cut  off 
their  top-knots,"  and,  though  they  had  not  been  then 
baptized,  they  were  candidates  for  that  rite.  The  same 
year  a  large  property  in  Sreenugger,  formerly  used  for 
a  treasury  and  police  station,  was  made  over  to  the 
mission  by  the  magistrate.  Thus  closed  a  prosperous 
year. 


India  Mission  Conference  Organized.  i  5 

Mr.  Mansell  records  in  1869  satisfaction  in  view  of  the 
progress  in  the  school  work.  Four  boys  from  the  large 
school  entered  Bareilly  College,  and  the  schools  outside 
of  Paori  were  flourishing,  especially  the  one  in  Sreenug- 
ger  under  Thomas  Gowan.  The  total  number  of  schol- 
ars reached  four  hundred  and  six,  of  whom  fifty- one 
were  girls.  The  Sreenugger  property  was  now  improved, 
and  a  large  room  for  worship  fitted  up  there,  so  that  two 
chapels  were  reported  on  the  circuit  that  year.  Nine 
adults  and  fourteen  infants  received  baptism,  and  the 
growing  Church  was  daily  watched  and  carefully  in- 
structed. It  had  now  increased  to  "  nearly  seventy 
souls,"  (including  the  helpers  imported  to  carry  on  the 
work;)  thirty  out  of  the  seventy  were  communicants. 
The  native  brethren  made  itinerating  tours  to  the  east 
and  west  of  the  province,  preaching  the  word,  and  dis- 
tributing books  and  tracts,  of  which  over  a  thousand  were 
circulated,  including  twenty-four  Bibles,  and  eighteen 
Testaments.  Even  Teeree,  the  dominion  of  a  native 
rajah,  was  visited.  The  year  was  brought  to  a  fitting 
close  by  a  revival,  in  which  several  nominal  Christians 
professed  to  be  truly  converted,  and  the  work  of  God 
advanced. 

The  next  yeai  (1870)  the  orphans  numbered  twen- 
ty, of  whom  twelve  were  boys  and  eight  girls.  This 
little  group  was  looked  on  with  much  hope,  for  they 
daily  grew  in  knowledge  as  well  as  in  grace.  The  chil- 
dren in  our  schools  were  now  increased  to  five  hundred, 
of  whom  seventy-seven  were  girls.  Rev.  P.  T.  Wilson, 
just  appointed  as  Mr.  Mansell's  co-laborer,  inade  a  trip 
to  the  snows  in  company  with  Rev.  Mr.  Woodside,  of 
the  Presbyterian  mission  of  Derha  Doon.  The  mission- 
ary in  that  journey,  and  the  native  helpers  stationed  at 
Sreenugger,  made  the  pilgrims  to  the  famous  shrines  the 


i6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

objects  of  considerable  effort.  That  year  Bangar,  a  vil- 
lage three  days'  march  east  of  Paori,  was  supplied  with 
a  local  preacher,  and  a  promising  work  began ;  but  the 
local  preacher  only  stayed  a  year,  and  since  then  a 
school  has  been  carried  on  by  a  Hindu  pundit.  The 
Paori  Girls'  Boarding  School  is  indebted  to  Bangai  for 
pupils,  some  of  whom  have  been  baptized,  and  others 
have  asked  to  be. 

Polygamy,  one  of  the  curses  of  this  province,  now 
gave  trouble  in  the  Church,  and  led  to  the  expulsion  of 
one  of  the  members.  The  year  1871  was  one  filled  up 
with  a  good  deal  of  work  in  stone  and  mortar.  The 
large  school-house,  (a  two-story  building  of  eleven  good- 
sized  rooms,)  whose  foundation  had  been  laid  before, 
was  now  completed.  A  new  and  comfortable  resi- 
dence for  the  missionary's  family  was  also  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  old  building.  About  six  thousand  dollars 
were  expended  in  this  work,  of  which  the  Government 
gave  a  grant  of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
toward  the  school.  The  interest  in  the  Paori  school 
continued,  but  new  trouble  was  in  store  for  the  mission- 
ary. Irregularities  were  discovered  in  the  lives  of  some 
two  or  three  native  helpers ;  one  was  expelled,  and  his 
license  taken  from  him.  Two  others  were  deprived  of 
theirs,  and  they  left  the  station  in  disgrace.  This  was 
no  small  blow  to  the  work :  but  the  good  Lord  knew 
vv^hat  was  needed. 

Rev.  VV.  Taylor  visited  Paori,  and  preached  to  large 
audiences  through  an  interpreter.  Both  in  Paori  and 
Sreenugger  impressions  were  made  that  are  seen  to  this 
day.  Hindus  have  confessed,  when  referring  to  his 
preaching,  that  they  trembled  while  he  talked.  It  is 
wortliy  of  record  that  the  three  persons  he  then  bap- 
tized became  useful  in  the  Church  tlirough  succeeding 


Annual  Conferences  of  the  Afission.  IJ 

years.      This  year  closed  the  labors  of  Rev.  H.  Man- 
sell  in  Gurhwal. 

.19.  Other  Annual  Conferences  of  the  Mission. 

The  second  Conference  met  at  Moradabad,  on  the  ist 
of  February,  1866,  at  which  Rev.  James  Baume  presided. 
Rev.  Messrs.  F.  A.  Spencer  and  S.  S.  Weatherby,  who 
had  arrived  from  the  United  States  during  the  year, 
were  admitted  into  full  connection,  and  the  return  to 
the  United  States  of  the  president  of  the  Conference 
was  approved,  his  wife  having  left  the  previous  year  in 
broken  health.  The  Conference  made  provision  for  cel- 
ebrating the  Centenary  of  Methodism,  and  the  raising 
of  a  gratitude  offering  of  ten  thousand  rupees  for  the 
Lucknow  school,  as  a  nucleus  around  which  a  sum 
might  be  gathered  sufficient  to  warrant  a  claim  for 
affiliation  with  the  Calcutta  University.  There  was  a 
glorious  work  in  the  Orphanage  this  year,  in  which 
twenty-two  of  the  girls  found  peace  in  believing,  and 
many  others  were  inquirers. 

The  third  Conference  met  at  Shahjehanpore,  January 
10,  1867,  Rev.  J.  T.  Gracey,  presiding.  An  interesting 
session  it  was,  and  there  were  but  few  changes  in  the 
mission. 

The  fourth  Conference  was  held  at  Bijnour,  on  the 
i6th  of  January,  1868,  Rev.  J.  M.  Thoburn,  presiding. 
General  Conference  was  at  hand,  and  the  year  had  been 
marked  by  discussions  as  to  a  resident  Bishop  for  India, 
but  the  sense  of  the  Conference  was  not  in  favor  of  it, 
Mr.  Gracey  had  already  embarked  for  America,  and  he 
was  designated  by  the  Conference  to  represent  them  at 
the  General  Conference.  They  had  no  right  of  repre- 
sentation, but  the  conferences  which  had  been  organized 
in  the  lately  seceding  States  of  the  United    States  had 


1 8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

been  electing  provisional  delegates  to  the  approaching 
General  Conference,  under  the  name  of  representa- 
tives. These  representatives  were  admitted  at  Chicago 
as  delegates,  and  the  disabilities  of  mission  confer- 
ences were  entirely  removed.  Near  the  close  of  the 
session  Mr.  Gracey  was  admitted  as  a  delegate  from 
the  India  Conference,  being  the  first  from  a  foreign 
land.  Mr.  Hauser  now  became  a  supernumerary,  and 
the  wife  of  Mr.  Jackson,  Martha  W.,  daughter  of  Rev. 
David  Terry,  had  died  on  the  21st  of  March,  1867. 
H.  M.  Daniel  had  also  died  in  February.  Action  was 
taken  favoring  a  general  conference  of  India  mission- 
aries. 

The  fifth  session  convened  at  Bareilly,  January  14, 
1869,  Rev.  C.  W,  Judd,  president.  Messrs.  Jackson, 
Gracey,  and  Parker  were  absent  on  leave,  and  J.  Field- 
brave,  a  native,  had  died  in  great  peace.  The  presi- 
dent received  a  supernumerary  relation  and  leave  of  ab- 
sence. This  session  was  one  of  great  spiritual  power, 
a  pentecost,  and  marks  an  era  in  the  mission. 

The  sixth  session  also  convened  at  Bareilly,  and  en- 
joyed the  presence  and  presidency  of  Bishop  Kingsley. 
The  session  began  January  20,  1870.  The  newly  ar- 
rived missionaries,  sent  out  by  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  Misses  Thoburn  and  Swain,  were 
welcomed  to  the  work,  and  Rev.  William  Taylor  was 
invited  to  visit  the  mission.  At  this  Conference  J.  D. 
Brown  and  family,  and  Mrs.  Waugh,  took  their  depart- 
ure for  America  to  recruit  their  health.  The  visit  of 
Dishop  Kingsley  was  a  great  encouragement  to  the  mis- 
sion. It  was  his  last  official  work  on  earth.  Joel  T. 
Janvier  and  Zahur-ul-Huqq  were  elected  and  ordained 
elders. 

The  seventh  session  met  at  Lucknow,  January  12, 


Annual  Conferences  of  the  Mission.  1 9 

1871,  J.  W.  VVaugh,  presiding.  Mr.  Taylor  had  been 
in  the  mission,  and  the  brethren  felt  the  effects  of  his 
presence,  though  there  was  not  much  fruit  gathered. 
He  was  at  the  Conference,  and  participated,  by  request, 
in  its  deliberations.  P.  M.  Buck  and  Thomas  Craven 
were  also  present,  fresh  recruits  from  the  United  States. 
Dr.  Waugh  took  leave  for  America  to  meet  his  family, 
and  Mrs.  Mansell,  in  shattered  health,  left  the  mission 
to  return  to  it  no  more. 

The  eighth  session  was  held  in  Moradabad,  January 
18,  1872,  Rev.  J.  L.  Humphrey,  presiding.  Dr.  Maclay 
superintendent  of  Foochow  Mission,  was  present.  Ed- 
ward Cunningham,  Wallace  J.  Gladwin,  and  Joseph  H. 
Gill  had  been  added  to  the  mission.  The  year  will  be 
memorable  for  the  liberal  donations  of  Rev.  D.  W. 
Thomas  and  Eliphalet  Remington,  Esq.,  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Theological  Seminary.  The  donation  of 
Mr.  Thomas  amounted  to  $20,000,  the  largest  ever  given 
by  a  missionary,  and  that  of  Mr.  Remington  was  for  the 
sum  of  $5,000,  to  which  the  Board  added  $5,000.  The 
year  was  saddened  by  the  death  of  Rev.  Melville  Cox 
Elliott.  He  had  come  to  India  for  his  health,  and  en- 
tered the  work,  and  rendered  valuable  service  at  Bah- 
vaich.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  G.  F.  Elliott,  of  the 
East  Maine  Conference.  On  August  26th  he  joined, 
before  the  throne,  his  illustrious  namesake,  who  fell  in 
Africa. 

The  ninth  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  in  Ba- 
reilly,  commencing  January  16,  1873,  Dr.  T.  S.  Johnson, 
presiding.  J.  D.  Brown  had  returned  in  good  hope  that 
he  could  resume  work  for  a  lifetime,  and  Rev.  Benton 
H.  Badley  and  Fletcher  B.  Cherrington  had  recently 
arrived  to  reinforce  the  mission.  The  orphanage,  the 
schools,  the  manual  labor,  and  the  publishing  depart- 


20  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ments,  had  all  greatly  expanded,  and  the  work  generally 
was  prosperous 

The  tenth  session  began  at  Lucknow,  on  the  7th  of 
January,  1874,  and  was  favored  with  the  presence  of 
Bishop  Harris,  who  presided.  At  this  Conference  James 
Mudge,  Daniel  O.  Fox,  William  E.  Robbins,  Albert 
Norton,  Richardson  Gray,  M.  D.,  Albert  D.  M'Henry, 
and  Jefferson  E.  Scott  presented  themselves  as  transfers 
to  the  Conference.  Messrs.  Fox,  Robbins,  and  Norton 
were  designed  for  the  work  in  South  India,  raised  up 
under  God  by  Rev.  William  Taylor.  We  find  ten  breth- 
ren sent  forth  as  missionaries  to  the  Bombay  and  Bengal 
Mission,  of  which  work  Rev.  William  Taylor  was  made 
superintendent.  The  great  achievement  of  Bishop  Har- 
ris, at  this  session,  was  the  happy  adjustment  of  the 
work  under  Mr.  Taylor,  by  which  it  was  brought  into 
organic  relations  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
But  for  this  that  great  and  important  work  in  South  In- 
dia might  have  been  scattered,  as  was  formerly  the  work 
of  George  Whitefield  in  Great  Britain  and  America.  At 
this  same  session  Messrs.  Humphrey,  Wheeler,  Wilson, 
and  Weatherby  were  transferred  to  Conferences  within 
the  United  States.  Qn  the  17th  of  May  preceding  Mrs. 
Mansell  had  gone  to  her  reward,  having  vainly  sought 
health  by  a-  return  to  the  United  States.  The  Confer- 
ence was  one  of  unparalleled  interest.  The  presence 
of  the  Bishop,  so  long  the  eminent  and  energetic  Cor- 
responding Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society,  the 
presence  of  so  many  distinguished  visitors  from  the 
United  States  and  elsewhere,  the  return  of  Dr.  Waugh, 
the  numerous  additions  to  the  Conference,  and  the  re- 
cent glorious  outpourings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  South 
India,  all  served  to  impart  a  very  rare  interest  to  this 
occasion.     It  marks  an  epoch  of  the  mission. 


Annual  Conferences  of  the  Mission. 


21 


The  eleventh  session  met  in  Shahjehanpore,  com- 
mencing January  6,  1875,  and  T.  J.  Scott  presided. 
C.  P.  Hard,  F.  A.  Goodwin,  and  John  E.  Robinson 
had  just  been  transferred  for  the  South  India  work. 
William  Taylor  was  again  present.  Mrs.  Wilson  died  on 
the  23d  of  May  preceding,  in  Springfield,  Illinois. 

The  twelfth  session  was  held  in  Cawnpore,  beginning 
January  13, 1876,  D.  W.  Thomas  presiding^  The  Confer- 
ence had  been  reinforced.  F.  M.  Wheeler  had  returned, 
and  G.  H.  M'Grew,  Milton  H.  Nichols,  John  Blackstock, 
Franklin  J.  Davis,  W.  E.  Newlon,  and  D.  H.  Lee  were 
added,  all  but  the  first  for  South  India  work.  Philip  Phil- 
lips was  also  present,  to  cheer  them  with  sacred  song. 
Being  the  session  immediately  preceding  General  Con- 
ference, many  things  were  to  be  considered.  The  Cawn- 
pore School  was  resolved  upon,  H.  Jackson,  Principal. 
John  D.  Brown,  suffering  from  paralysis,  took  final  leave 
of  the  mission,  and  F.  B.  Cherrington  returned  to  home 
work  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  wife's  health. 

The  thirteenth  session  began  at  Moradabad,  on  the 
3d  of  January,  1877,  Bishop  Andrews,  presiding.  The 
General  Conference  had  ordained  that  there  should  be 
two  conferences  in  Hindustan,  this  one  to  be  styled 
North  India  Conference,  embracing  the  old  mission 
field,  and  the  other,  South  India  Conference,  covering 
t])e  work  under  the  superintendence  of  William  Taylor. 
Messrs.  Hoskins  and  Buck  were  absent  in  the  United 
States  on  leave.  The  South  India  Conference  was  or- 
ganized by  Bishop  Andrews  in  Bombay,  on  the  9th  of 
November,  1876.  The  mission  force  was  strengthened 
by  the  addition  of  I.  F.  Row  and  L.  R.  Janney,  and  by 
the  coming  of  W.  J.  Gladwin.  Henceforth  they  were 
two  bands. 

The  North  India  Conference  met  for  its  fourteenth 


22  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

session  at  Bareilly,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1878,  J.  H. 
Messmore  presided.  M.  L.  Bannerjea  appeared  as 
transfered  but,  afterward  located,  and  Mr.  Hoskins  re- 
turned from  America.  F.  M.  Wheeler  took  leave  of 
the  Conference  on  account  of  impaired  health. 

20.  North  India  Conference,   1879-1881. 

Bishop  Bowman  presided  at  the  fifteenth  session  of 
the  Conference  held  in  Lucknow,  January  9-14,  1879. 
John  W.  Gamble  was  received  by  transfer  and  retrans- 
ferred  to  the  South  India  Conference. 

The  Conference  recorded  the  high  esteem  in  which 
it  held  a  former  member,  Rev.  J.  D.  Brown,  who  died 
in  Harrisburgh,  Pa.,  February  17,  1878  ;  also  a  brief 
obituary  was  placed  on  the  minutes,  of  the  "  beautiful 
life  "  of  Mrs.  Cheney,  who  had  died  at  Nynee  Tal,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1878.  Rev.  Charles  W.  Judd,  after  nearly 
twenty  years  of  valuable  service,  retired  to  America  ; 
also,  temporarily.  Rev.  Henry  Jackson. 

The  South  India  Conference  had  selected  Allahabad 
as  the  place  of  holding  their  next  annual  session,  and 
the  North  India  Conference  now  appointed  Cawnpore 
as  the  place  of  holding  the  session  of  1880,  with  the 
purpose  of  endeavoring  to  secure  a  united  and  fra- 
ternal meeting  with  the  South  India  Conference,  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  sessions  of  both  bodies,  for  the 
consideration  of  the  general  interests  of  Methodism  in 
India. 

Gurhwal  and  Kumaon  had  suffered  from  famine. 
Many  of  the  native  Christians  in  these  provinces  were 
subjects  of  a  species  of  slavery,  and  their  heathen  mas- 
ters now  gave  them  great  annoyance.  This  famine  af- 
fected also  the   Rohilcund  District,  breaking  up  entire 


North  India  Con/cre?icc,  1879-1881.  23 

congregations  ;  yet  but  five  or  six  Christians  died.  A 
"  Famine  Relief  Fund  "  in  America  extended  some  aid 
to  the  sufferers.  As  one  result  of  the  famine  more  or- 
phans were  thrown  on  the  care  of  the  mission.  Cholera 
carried  off  nine  of  the  orphan  girls,  but  the  Government 
sent  others  from  the  poorhouse,  overcrowding  the  prem- 
ises. A  new  church  at  Bareilly  was  completed  during 
the  year.  A  Normal  High  School  Department,  con- 
nected with  the  Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  was 
opened  January,  1878,  with  twenty-four  students.  The 
Boys'  Orphanage  increased  to  three  hundred  and 
nine  ;  seventeen  had  died  as  the  result  of  starvation. 
The  Conference  recommended  the  establishment  of  a 
branch  of  the  Cawnpore  Memorial  School  at  Nynee 
Tal. 

As  no  Bishop  visited  India  during  1S80  the  Confer- 
ence elected  E.  W.  Parker  to  preside  over  its  sixteenth 
session  in  Cawnpore,  January  7-12,  1880.  P.  T.  Wilson 
was  transferred  from  South  India  Conference,  and  C. 
L.  Bare  from  America.  Henry  Jackson  and  F.  M. 
Wheeler  were  transferred  to  home  Conferences,  and  E. 
Cunningham  returned  to  the  United  States.  Rev.  S. 
L.  Baldwin,  D.D.,  of  China,  brought  to  the  Conference 
the  salutations  of  the  Foochow  Conference.  Mrs. 
Amanda  Smith,  a  widely-known  evangelist,  was  among 
the  visitors  in  attendance  upon  the  body.  The  Con- 
ference elected  their  proportion  of  the  members  of  a 
board  of  trustees  of  the  two  Conferences  to  take  charge 
of  the  Memorial  School  and  the  Girls'  School  at  Cawn- 
pore. The  most  important  action  of  this  session  was 
the  resolution,  provided  the  South  India  Conference 
concur,  to  empower  the  united  body  of  the  two  Con- 
ferences to  organize  a  representative  assembly  and  pro- 


24  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

vide  for  its  perpetuation  by  the  election  of  delegates  at 
stated  times  from  each  Conference  in  India,  to  care  for 
the  general  interests  common  to  both,  provided  that  no 
action  should  be  taken  which  would  in  any  way  inter- 
fere with  the  rights  or  operation  of  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Society,  or  contravene  the  organic  law  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  E.  W.  Parker,  T.  J. 
Scott,  N.  G.  Cheney,  T.  S.  Johnson,  G.  H.  M'Grew, 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  cooperate  with  any  com- 
mittee the  South  India  Conference  might  appoint  in 
preparing  a  form  of  organization  for  acceptance  by  the 
two  Conferences. 

Bishop  Merrill  held  the  seventeenth  session  of  the 
Conference  in  Bareilly,  January  5,  1881.  H.  F.'Kasten- 
dieck  and  S.  S.  Dease  were  received  by  transfer.  J. 
W.  Waugh,  J.  H.  Gill,  and  A.  D.  M'Henry  returned  to 
America.  Revs.  J.  S.  Inskip,  W.  M'Donald,  and  J.  A. 
Wood,  of  America,  were  introduced  to  the  Conference. 
Seven  deacons  and  two  elders  were  ordained.  Major 
A.  P.  Orr,  of  Roy  Bareilly,  presented  4,500  rupees  to 
"endow  a  native  preachership,"  the  interest  to  be  used 
only  for  this  purpose.  J.  W.  Waugh  was  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  Bishops  to  represent  the  Conference  in  the 
Methodist  Ecumenical  Council  to  be  held  in  London. 
A  high-school  was  opened  in  Nynee  Tal,  April,  1880,  with 
forty  in  attendance.  Dr.  Waugh  being  superintendent. 
Rev.  Charles  Wesley  Judd,  one  of  the  oldest  members 
of  the  mission,  had  died  in  America,  February  11,  1880. 
He  was  born  January  31,  1829,  in  Berkshire,  Tioga 
County,  N.  Y.  He  received  his  education  at  the  Caze- 
novia  Seminary,  from  which  he  entered  the  pastorate 
in  the  Wyoming  Conference.  In  1859,  with  his  esti- 
mable  wife,    he    sailed    for    India.     His    memory   was 


North  India  Co/i/crencc,  1879-1881.  25 

cherished  and  his  religious  influence  felt  in  all  the  fields 
in  which  he  had  labored  in  Oudh,  Rohilcund,  Kumaon, 
and  Gurhwal,  as  well  as  widely  in  America.  The  See- 
tapore  Station  now  rejoiced  in  a  new  church,  completed 
at  a  cost  of  2,500  rupees,  no  part  of  the  money  having 
been  given  by  the  Missionary  Society.  The  press  had 
issued  four  million  pages  during  the  year.  Rev.  S. 
Knowles,  recounting  in  his  report  his  recent  experiences 
at  a  Christian  tnela  at  Shahjehanpote,  where  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty  native  Christians  were  present,  drew  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  strong  contrast  with  that  of  the  lit- 
tle prayer-meeting  in  the  sheep-house  at  Nynee  Tal 
twenty-one  years  before,  when  there  were  only  two  na- 
tive Christians  present. 

On  September  i8th  preceding  the  Conference  a  mem- 
orable storm  occurred  at  Nynee  Tal.  A  huge  protuber- 
ance of  mountain  overhung  the  buildings  of  the  Royal 
Victoria  Hotel  adjoining  the  mission  premises.  After 
two  days  of  most  unusual  rain  this  stupendous  moun- 
tain side,  a  thousand  feet  in  breadth  and  five  hundred 
feet  high,  became  surcharged  with  water,  and,  yielding 
to  the  force  of  gravity,  broke  from  its  rocky  bed  and 
rushed  down  in  a  precipitous  avalanche.  Everything 
in  its  course  was  in  an  instant  swept  before  it.  The 
hotel  buildings,  of  the  value  of  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, were  utterly  destroyed  by  millions  of  tons  of  earth, 
rocks,  and  water  in  one  mad  rush  to  the  lake  below. 
It  was  all  over  in  eight  seconds.  Nearly  half  a  hundred 
Europeans  and  more  than  a  hundred  natives  perished  in 
the  catastrophe. 

The  hill  above  the  mission  premises  was  cracked  in 
all  directions,  and  a  committee  which  was  appointed  to 
examine  it  reported   that  with  no  reasonable  expendi- 


26  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ture  of  money  could  it  be  rendered  secure  from  further 
danger  from  similar  landslips. 

The  society  at  Nynee  Tal  had  already  accepted  archi- 
tectural designs  and  received  subscriptions  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  chapel  in  the  place  of  the  old  one.  They 
had  15,000  rupees  pledged,  material  had  been  collected, 
and  they  were  expecting  to  begin  work  on  the  structure 
October  15th.  The  landslip  seriously  reduced  their  re- 
sources by  subscription.  A  new  site  was  secured  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  lake  through  the  kindly  assistance  of 
the  old  and  earnest  friend  of  the  mission,  General  Sir 
Henry  Ramsey.  On  the  7th  of  February,  1881,  the 
corner-stone  of  a  new  church  edifice  was  laid,  and  the 
building  dedicated  October  9th  following  by  Rev.  P. 
M.  Buck.     It  cost  about  24,000  rupees. 

The  Boys'  Orphanage  at  Shahjehanpore  increased  the 
number  of  boys  sent  to  the  Christian  village  ten  miles 
distant,  the  control  of  which  was  now  transferred  from 
the  Theological  School  at  Bareilly  to  the  Boys'  Orphan- 
age. The  mechanical  department  of  the  Orphanage 
numbered  thirty  boys  learning  tailoring ;  twenty-four, 
carpentry;  twenty,  shoemaking  ;  sixteen,  weaving  ;  and 
six,  smithing.  The  orphan  boys  at  Gurhwal  were  learn- 
ing to  spin  and  weave  cheap  cotton  cloth.  At  Bareilly, 
January  15,  1880,  a  high-school  was  commenced  with 
twenty-three  boys  in  three  classes  of  higher  grade. 

The  ladies  of  the  mission  at  an  early  date  organized 
an  India  Conference  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety under  a  constitution  which  limited  and  directed 
their  operations.  This  constitution  provided  for  an 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  wives  of  missionaries  and  mem- 
bers of  Conference  with  the  women  sent  by  the  AVom- 
an's    Foreign    Missionary  Society   and    others    of   their 


North  India  Co/i/erena',  1 879-1881.  27 

helpers.  The  Society  held  its  first  meeting  in  Mora- 
dabad,  January,  1S72;  the  second  in  Bareilly,  1873;  and 
the  third  in  Lucknow,  January  8-14,  1874,  Mrs.  Hos- 
kins,  president  ;  the  fourth  at  Shahjehanpore,  January 
6-12,  1875,  Mrs.  Judd,  president ;  the  fifth  at  Cawnpore, 
January  14-18,  1S76,  Miss  Thoburn,  president  ;  tlie 
sixth  at  Moradabad,  January  6-9,  1S77,  Mrs.  Jackson, 
president;  the  seventh  met  at  Bareilly,  January  9-15, 
1878;  the  eighth  at  Lucknow,  January  9-14,  1879; 
the  ninth  at  Cawnpore,  January  7-12,  1S80,  Mrs.  Hos- 
kins,  president;  the  tenth  Annual  Meeting  was  con- 
vened January  5-1 1,  1881,  in  Bareilly,  Mrs.  M'Grew, 
presiding.  Tlie  missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  in  India  to  the  date  of  this  Confer- 
ence, with  the  year  of  their  arrival,  had  been  as  follows  : 
Miss  Thoburn  and  Miss  Swain,  M.D.  (1869)  ;  Miss 
Sparkes  (1870)  ;  Miss  Tinsley  and  Miss  M'Millan 
(1871);  Miss  Blackmar  and  Miss  Pultz  (1872);  Miss 
Nancy  Monelle,  M.D.,  and  Miss  Leming  (1873)  5  Miss 
Julia  Lore,  M.D.  (1874);  Miss  Green,  M.D.,  and  Miss 
Carey  (1876);  Miss  Easton,  Miss  Layton,  Miss  Gibson, 
and  Miss  Woolston,  M.D.  (1S78)  ;  Miss  Elliott  (1879)  ; 
Miss  Kelley,  Miss  Spence,  Miss  Nickerson,  and  Miss 
Budden  (1880)  ;  Miss  Ellen  J.  Howe  and  Miss  Harriet 
Kerr  (1881). 

A  Home  for  Homeless  "Women  established  at  Pithora- 
garh,  in  Kumaon,  in  charge  of  Miss  Annie  Budden,  was 
begun  January  i,  1880.  It  was  intended  to  aid  young 
women  of  a  caste  in  which  men  never  married  daughters 
of  their  own  tribe,  taking  wives  from  other  castes,  and 
leaving  all  girls  born  to  them  to  follow  lives  of  shame 
anywhere  in  India  that  fortune  might  lead  them.  The 
Home    now    had    twentv-two   inmates.     The    Christian 


28  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Girls'  Boarding  School  at  Moradabad  had  thirty-six 
boarders  and  nine  day  pupils  ;  seventeen  were  members 
of  the  Church.  Moradabad  also  had  fifteen  schools, 
with  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  girls.  Mrs.  Mansell 
had  charge  of  the  medical  work.  Schools  were  estab- 
lished in  nearly  all  places  where  a  Church  was  begun. 
The  Sunday-school  at  Budaon  now  numbered  four 
hundred  and  fifty  girls.  There  was  a  boarding-school 
here  also.  All  departments  of  the  work,  zenana  visit- 
ing, Bible-women's  work,  schools,  and  medical  work, 
were  carefully  advanced. 

21.  North  India  Conference,  1882-1883. 

No  Bishop  from  America  visited  India  in  the  winter 
of  i88i  and  18S2.  The  Conference  elected  Rev.  S. 
Knowles  president  of  the  eighteenth  session,  held  in 
Moradabad,  January  11,  1882.  J.  L.  Humphrey  re- 
entered the  mission  by  transfer  from  America,  also  F. 
L.  Neeld  and  J.  C.  Lawson.  J.  H.  Gill  and  A.  D. 
M'Henry  were  placed  on  the  supernumerary  list.  E. 
Cunningham  was  transferred  to  a  home  Conference.  T. 
Craven  was  in  America.  The  Conference  expressed  its 
sympathy  with  Mr.  M'Henry  in  the  death  of  his  wife, 
which  occurred  in  Mayfield,  O.,  July  25,  1881.  Hon. 
J.  C.  M'Grew,  of  Kingwood,  W.  Va.,  father  of  Rev.  G. 
H.  M'Grew,  was  present  and  addressed  the  Conference. 
Mrs.  Dr.  D.  D.  Lore,  mother  of  Mrs.  M'Grew,  ac- 
companied by  Miss  Lore,  also  visited  the  mission  dur- 
ing this  year.  One  of  the  important  features  of  the 
business  of  this  Conference  was  the  transfer  of  the  pub- 
lication office  of  "  The  Lucknow  Witness  "  to  Calcutta, 
with  a  change  of  title  to  that  of  "  The  Indian  Witness." 
Rev.    James    Mudge,    after    eight   years    of  successful 


Norlli  J)idia   Conference,  1 882-1 883.  29 

editorship  of  "  The  Lucknow  ^V'itncss,"  was  succeeded 
by  Rev.  J.  M.  Thoburn,  D.D.  The  "  Lucknow  Witness 
Publishing  Association  "  retired  from  tlie  publication  of 
the  paper,  and  the  "Central  Committee"  took  charge 
of  the  same  in  Calcutta.  The  Conference  adopted 
and  approved  the  measures  of  the  delegated  Confer- 
ence, item  by  item.  This  was  not  considered  absolutely 
necessary,  but  as  the  delegated  Conference  had  no 
constitutional  basis  it  was  prudent.  The  contribu- 
tion for  self-support  advanced  from  1,575  rupees  to 
1,859  rupees.  Mr.  Ram  Chandra  Bose  had  found 
special  opportunities  to  do  the  work  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed,  of  lecturer  at  large  among  educated 
natives.  The  Centennial  School  at  Lucknow  was  mak- 
ing an  effort  to  secure  a  new  building,  the  Government 
having  promised  a  grant  toward  the  same  of  5,000 
rupees.  A  new  church  had  been  dedicated  at  Seeta- 
pore.  The  great  religious  mela  or  fair  at  Ajudliiya,  the 
birthplace  of  the  popular  god  Ram,  attended  by  not  less 
than  five  hundred  thousand  people,  who  gather  at  this 
time  to  bathe  in  the  Goghra  River,  was  visited  as  usual 
for  the  purpose  of  preaching  to  the  people.  After 
eighteen  years  of  its  history,  Roy  Bareilly  had  its  first 
native  missionary  in  charge.  Rohilcund  District  had 
native  classes  in  more  than  fifty  different  villages,  and 
many  native  preachers  were  placed  in  full  charge  of 
circuits.  The  notable  movement  for  the  establishment 
of  what  is  known  as  the  Goucher  and  Frey  Schools,  of 
which  an  account  will  be  given  later  on,  was  now  taking 
shape  in  the  minds  of  some  members  of  the  Con- 
ference. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  persons  who  ac- 
cepted Christianity  met  with  no  opposition,  for  in  many 


30  Methoj)ist  Episcopal  Missions. 

cases  persecution  was  of  a  cruel  and  persistent  char- 
acter. An  instance  occurred  this  year  at  Ramapore,  a 
vilhige  on  tlie  Shalijehanpore  Circuit,  which  will  show 
that  the  Methodist  Church  in  India  has  not  been  with- 
out its  martyrs. 

'J'here  was  living  here  a  Christian  convert  named 
llanawant  Singh,  of  the  proud  Thakur  caste,  a  land- 
holder in  the  village  of  Nagla,  who  owned  a  half-inter- 
est in  four  villages  or  estates,  one  of  his  caste  brothers 
owning  the  other  half.  His  family  consisted  of  himself, 
wife,  and  six  children,  two  of  whom  were  grown.  The 
jKislor  gives  the  following  account  of  him :  "  Some 
years  before  he  heard  the  preachers  preach  in  the 
bazaar,  and  bought  a  Hindi  book  of  them  called  the 
'  Dharm  Tula.'  He  took  the  book  home  and  read  it, 
and  became  anxious  to  learn  more,  as  the  book  referred 
to  things  and  truths  he  knew  nothing  of.  He  returned 
to  the  city  to  find  some  one  to  explain  these  mysteries 
to  him.  He  was  directed  to  the  chaplain,  and  the 
chaplain,  not  being  acquainted  with  Hindi,  sent  him 
to  the  missionary,  Mr.  F.  M.  Wheeler.  Mr.  Wheeler 
saw  that  he  was  a  sincere  and  intelligent  inquirer  after 
the  truth.  He  taught  him  as  well  as  he  could  in  the 
time,  and  sold  him  a  Hindi  New  Testament.  The  man 
continued  to  come  to  Mr.  Wheeler,  and  afterward  to 
other  missionaries,  to  secure  aid  in  his  studies,  and  in 
October,  1879,  Hanawant  Singh  and  his  eldest  son, 
Mohan,  were  baptized,  and  in  March,  iSSo,  Tulsa,  his 
eldest  daughter.  From  the  very  first  he  seemed  a  sin- 
cere inquirer,  and  he  took  Christ  as  his  Saviour,  giving 
up  all  others.  It  is  said  that  before  he  understood  our 
form  of  worship  he  would  burn  incense  to  Christ.  He 
was  true  to  Christ,  according  to  the  light  he  possessed. 


North  India  Conference,  1882- 1883.  31 

His  faith  in  the  word  of  Christ  was  also  exceedingly 
pure  and  simple.  One  day  he  was  at  Mr.  Wheeler's 
house,  and  concerning  some  subject  Mr.  W.  said,  'Let 
us  pray  about  this,'  and  began  to  kneel  down.  But 
Hanawant  proceeded  to  close  all  the  doors.  When  told 
that  this  was  not  necessary,  he  replied,  'You  know  that 
the  Testament  says,  "  When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy 
closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,"  '  etc.  In  this 
manner  he  took  Christ's  word  as  literal  and  true  in 
every  instance.  This  sincerity  and  simplicity  attended 
him  in  all  his  relations  with  the  missionaries,  and  in  all 
his  religious  life.  In  his  worship  he  also  showed  great 
humility  and  meekness.  He  always  seemed  to  realize 
that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  a  loving  Saviour,  to  whom 
he  owed  everything.  In  prayer  he  would  fall  upon  tlie 
floor,  as  a  child,  conceal  his  face  with  his  hands,  and 
pray  as  though  he  was  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
goodness  and  majesty  and  glory  of  God,  who  was  pres- 
ent in  his  Saviour.  When  two  missionaries  visited  his 
village  only  a  few  months  before  his  murder  a  very  large 
audience  of  villagers  was  collected  in  a  grove  to  see  the 
magic-lantern  pictures.  The  preaching,  in  connection 
with  the  pictures  of  the  life  of  Christ,  continued  until 
late,  and  yet  the  people  all  sat  and  listened.  At  last 
Hanawant  was  asked  if  he  would  like  to  testify  to  his 
neighbors  what  Christ  had  done  for  him.  He  replied 
that  he  would,  and,  stepping  to  the  front,  he  bore  wit- 
ness boldly  for  Christ.  In  referring  to  his  worship,  he 
said,  '  Formerly  I  prayed  without  knowing  whether  any 
one  heard,  or  cared,  or  not ;  but  now  when  I  kneel  in 
prayer  I  fully  realize  Jesus  near  me,  and  I  know  that  he 
hears  and  gives  me  peace  and  help.*  The  entire  tes- 
timony was  remarkably  original,  delivered   in  his  own 


32  Mkiiiodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

village  idiom,  yet  it  was  one  of  tlie  clearest  testimonies 
to  the  abiding  i)rcsence  and  saving  power  of  Christ.  Al- 
though this  man  was  a  Thakur,  yet  in  all  his  relations 
with  the  missionaries  and  with  all  people,  he  showed 
only  a  gentlemanly  bearing  and  a  very  kind  heart.  He 
happened  to  be  in  the  mission-house  once  when  a  little 
orphan  babe  was  brought  in  for  the  Orphanage.  Some 
one  said  this  cliild  must  have  good  fresh  cow's  milk  if 
it  would  live.  Hanawant  immediately  arose  and  left  the 
room,  and  tlie  next  day  sent  a  cow  for  the  little  orphan. 
"  This  man,  whose  life  and  character  thus  briefly 
noticed  from  October  20,  1879,  when  he  was  baptized, 
until  May  5,  1881,  when  he  was  murdered,  Avas  an 
object  of  the  most  cruel  and  bitter  hatred  among  the 
Hindus  of  his  caste.  He  was  riding  home  one  night 
from  Jalalabad,  when  he  was  attacked  by  enemies  who 
attempted  to  kill  him,  and  he  was  saved  only  by  leap- 
ing from  his  pony,  that  received  a  blow  which  was  in- 
tended for  him ;  and  fleeing  into  the  jungle.  On  the 
morning  of  the  5th  of  May,  1881,  he  took  his  gun,  as 
was  his  custom,  and  sauntered  out  into  the  field.  He 
came  to  a  tank  of  water  where  his  partner  in  the  estates, 
with  several  laborers,  were  irrigating  his  fields.  It  seems 
that  the  partner  had  no  right,  either  by  possession  or 
permission,  to  use  water  from  that  tank.  Hanawant 
therefore  expostulated  with  him,  and  during  the  conver- 
sation they  had  all  come  to  sit  down  between  the  banis- 
ters of  a  bridge  near  the  tank.  Hanawant  had  placed 
his  gun  against  the  bridge  at  a  short  distance  from  him, 
and  was  engaged  still  in  conversation,  when  four  men 
rose  up  and  beat  him  to  death  with  clubs.  It  was  the 
end  of  a  long  and  bitter  hatred  of  him  as  a  Christian,  as 
will  be  seen  from  what  follows.     As  the  murderers  were 


North  India  Conference^  1882- 1883.  33 

fleeing  away  toward  Jalalabad,  some  men  asked  them 
what  the  excitement  was.  They  replied  that  they  had 
killed  an  '  Isai,'  (Christian,)  and  now  they  would  kill  the 
'  munshi,'  (preacher,)  and  the  other  Christians  of  the  vil- 
lage, and  then  the  village  would  be  pure  and  clean.  The 
missionaries  and  others  who  investigated  this  case  at 
once,  listening  to  accounts  of  Hindus,  believed  that  the 
above  was  the  only  account  that  could  be  given  of  this 
murder.  The  murderers  were  arrested,  and  after  a  long, 
tedious  trial,  in  which  the  murderers  tried  to  prove  that 
they  acted  only  in  self-defense,  two  were  exculpated, 
and  two  were  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment. 
The  general  feeling  was  that  all  four  were  guilty  of  cold- 
blooded murder ;  hence  a  thrill  of  astonishment  ran 
througli  the  entire  community  at  the  news  of  the  decision. 

"  The  body  of  Hanawant  Singh  was  made  over  to  his 
friends  at  noon  on  the  6th  of  May,  and  received  a  Chris- 
tian burial,  with  suitable  memorial  services,  in  the  chapel 
of  the  Boys'  Orphanage.  His  son,  who  was  a  hesitating 
Christian,  oflen  opposing  his  father's  zeal,  was  led  to  be- 
come a  decided  Christian." 

An  incidental  part  of  the  report  for  this  year  furnishes 
an  occasion  to  speak  of  a  peculiar  feature  of  the  eccle- 
siastical development  of  the  India  Mission.  Early  in 
the  history  of  the  work  on  the  Moradabad  District,  a 
(juarterly  gathering  of  the  missionaries  and  all  grades  of 
native  workers  was  held  for  the  literary  development  of 
the  workers.  This  in  time  became  a  District  Confer- 
ence, in  advance  of  the  recognition  of  such  a  body  by 
the  General  Conference.  A  course  of  studies,  extend- 
ing finally  over  eight  years,  was  gradually  adopted  for 
tlie  native  Christian  Avorkers,  examinations  had,  and 
ultimately   the   last    District   Conference    of   each    year 


34  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

became  the  time  for  the  assignment  of  work  to  every  class 
of  these  helpers  not  connected  with  the  Annual  Con- 
ference. The  Bishop,  if  present,  presides  over  the  mak- 
ing of  these  appointments  as  in  an  Annual  Conference; 
in  his  absence,  the  Presiding  Elder.  All  the  preachers  of 
the  Conference  in  charge  of  circuits  become  the  advisory 
committee,  as  the  Presiding  Elders  do  in  a  regular  Con- 
ference. When  the  Woman's  work  reached  an  advanced 
stage,  the  same  course  came  to  be  pursued  for  the  native 
women  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  Society.  The  sepa- 
rate Woman's  District  Conferences,  annually  graduated 
their  workers  in  studies,  and  appointed  them  to  their 
work.  Still  later  the  District  Conference  gathered  large 
numbers  of  native  Christians  about  it  for  religious  and 
intellectual  development,  and  thus  gradually  grew  up 
what  they  called  the  Christian  mela,  similar  to  the  great 
gatherings  of  natives  at  their  religious  festivals. 

The  relation  of  this  body  to  the  Annual  Conference 
assumed  vast  importance.  No  native  could  be  admitted 
to  an  Annual  Conference  even  though  a  graduate  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Bareilly,  without  satisfac- 
torily passing  the  examination  and  receiving  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  District  Conference.  The  report  for 
i88i  furnishes  evidence  of  the  carefulness  which  they 
exercised.  '  This  year  the  Rohilcund  District  Confer- 
ence recommended  for  admission  to  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence seven  men,  four  of  whom  were  graduates  of  the 
Bareilly  Theological  School.  One  candidate  was  re- 
jected. "  In  this  District  Conference,"  the  report  of  1881 
says,  "there  were  over  one  hundred  natives  present,  in- 
cluding ministers,  local  preachers,  exhorters,  district  stew- 
ards, leaders,  and  Sunday-school  superintendents,  and 
only  six  missionaries,  and  yet  no  man  could  get  a  recom- 


North  India  Conference,  1882-1883.  35 

mendation,  even  from  this  miscellaneous  body,  concern- 
ing whom  there  was  the  least  doubt  of  his  having  a  clear 
record." 

Mrs.  Dr.  T.  J.  Scott  presided  at  the  eleventh  session 
of  the  Woman's  Conference  held  in  Moradabad  at  the 
same  time  of  the  Annual  Conference  of  this  year  (1882). 

The  nineteenth  session  of  the  Conference  which  con- 
vened at  Lucknow,  January  10-16,  1883,  was  favored  with 
the  presidency  of  Bishoj)  Foster. 

E.  Cunningham,  N.  G.  Cheney,  and  A.  D.  M'Henry 
were '  transferred  to  home  Conferences.  Rev.  J.  F. 
Goucher  sent  a  proposal  to  establish  fifty  village  schools 
and  to  endow  one  hundred  special  scholarships,  for  which 
the  Conference  expressed  its  hearty  gratitude.  E.  W. 
Parker,  James  Mudge,  and  B.  H.  Badley  were  anticipat- 
ing going  to  America,  and  were  specially  asked  to  stir 
up  missionary  interest  among  the  theological  schools  at 
home.  Prem  Das,  a  leader  in  the  Chamar  work,  form- 
erly a  priest  among  that  caste,  had  died. 

Rev.  George  H.  M'Grew  was  appointed  one  of  the 
Committee  of  Revision  of  the  Hindi  New  Testament, 
under  the  patronage  of  the  North  India  Bible  Society, 
acting  for  tlie  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  The 
committee  was  composed  of  members  from  the  leading 
missionary  societies  of  North  India.  The  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society's  boarding-schools  at  Nynee 
Tal,  Dwarahath,  and  Seetapore  were  placed  under  Con- 
ference direction.  An  appropriate  memoir  was  entered 
on  the  records,  of  Mrs.  Weatherby,  wife  of  Rev,  S.  S. 
Weatherby,  who  had  died  October  17,  1882,  at  Glas- 
borough,  N.  J. 

For  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  native  Hindustani 
Church   at  Lucknow  became   self-supporting,  and  by  a 


36  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

strange  coincidence  the  same  was  true  of  the  Lucknow 
English  Cliurcl).  This  released  $180  for  other  work. 
The  Lucknow  Church  had  grown  within  five  years,  in 
communicants  from  88  to  133;  Sunday-schools,  from 
13  to  26;  Sunday-school  scholars,  from  801  to  1,350.  For 
the  first  time  this  church  and  Sunday-school  observed 
"Children's  Day."  Sixty  persons  professed  conversion 
at  what  are  known  as  the  "Dasehra"  meetings,  a  sort 
of  annual  camp-meeting  lield  in  conjunction  with  the 
Dasehra  festival.  Eighty  persons  were  converted  in  a 
series  of  special  meetings  at  Cawnpore. 

Rev.  John  M.  Reid,  D.D.,  Senior  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  accompanied  Bishop  Foster  in 
his  episcopal  visitation  to  India  this  year.  This  was 
the  first  instance  in  which  a  Missionary  Secretary  had 
been  designated  by  the  Board  to  visit  any  mission  in 
Asia.  Dr.  Reid,  and  Mrs.  Reid,  who  accompanied  him, 
were  everywhere  received  with  great  favor,  and  the 
Conference  expressed  its  pleasure,  and  acknowledged 
the  benefit  received  from  his  presence,  addresses,  and 
counsel.  Mrs.  Reid  joined  the  lady  missionaries  in 
their  visitations  to  many  zenanas,  and  evidenced  her 
deep  interest  in  all  parts  of  the  work.  Dr.  Reid's  visit 
had  reference  especially  to  the  business  interests  of  the 
Missionary  Board.  He  made  careful  investigation  of 
the  titles  under  which  the  property  of  the  mission  was 
held,  a  matter  which  had  at  various  times  given  the 
Board  anxiety.  On  his  return  to  America  he  presented 
the  Board  with  a  copy  of  the  title-deeds  of  each  of  the 
numerous  pieces  of  property,  and  a  copy  of  the  newly- 
enacted  law  for  holding  real  estate  in  India.  He  wa« 
impressed  with  the  value  of  this  property  to  the  Board 
including  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary    Society  build- 


North  India  Conference,  1882-1883.  37 

ings,  at  an  estimate  of  $342,552,  but  which  had  been 
obtained  at  such  a  low  rate  that  the  extent  and  worth  of 
it  was  a  surprise  to  him.  He  noticed  that  the  resi- 
dences, churches,  academies,  and  school-houses,  though 
sometimes  built  entirely  of  dried  clay,  and  never  of 
costly  material,  were  very  generally  beautiful  in  style, 
and  usually  were  kept  freshly  whitened.  The  sites  were 
admirably  chosen,  and  many  of  them  were  on  lots  of 
one  or  two  acres  in  extent. 

The  question  of  "  self-support  "  naturally  received  his 
attention.  Money  was  raised  in  every  circuit  for  the 
support  of  pastors,  and  all  preachers  to  English-speaking 
people  were  wholly  supported  by  their  congregations  ; 
also  some  pastors  of  native  congregations.  Teachers 
were  largely  paid  from  school  funds  raised  in  India. 

Dr.  Reid  was  privileged  to  attend  and  participate  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Decennial  Conference  of  the 
India  missionaries  of  all  denominations,  held  in  Cal- 
cutta, December,  1882.  He  wrote  concerning  the  rela- 
tive growth  of  the  India  Methodist  Episcopal  mission- 
aries as  follows  : 

"  For  India  alone  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  number 
of  native  Christians  is  shown  in  the  following  statistics, 
extending  over  a  period  of  thirty  years  : 

Year.  Number.  Increase  Per  Cent. 

1851 91,092 

1861 138.731 53 

1S71 224,258 61 

1881 417,372 8G 

"The  showing  in  respect  to  our  own  mission  for  the 
decade  affords  occasion  for  the  highest  j^raise  to  God, 
and  satisfaction  with  our  workers  and  their  methods. 
Tn    ^87 1    tliere  were  in  our  missions  1,835  n-i-tive  Chris- 


38  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tians;  now  there  are  7,054.  The  native  communicants 
in  our  field  in  1871  numbered  1,074;  now  they  number 
3,089.  The  Sunday-school  work  among  us  attracted 
great  attention,  both  for  its  extent  and  character.  There 
surely  can  be  nothing  dry  and  uninteresting  to  Chris- 
tians in  such  figures  as  these.  They  are  sufficient  to 
thrill  all  Christian  hearts,  and  encourage  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to  press  her  work  in  India  to  complete 
success." 

Mrs.  James  Mudge  presided  at  the  twelfth  annual 
session  of  the  Woman's  Conference,  Lucknow,  January 
11-16,  1883.  Mrs.  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  of  New  York,  was 
introduced;  Mrs.  Dr.  D.  D.  Lore  also.  Miss  Esther  J.  De 
Vine  arrived  from  America.  They  requested  the  Con- 
ference to  recognize  the  Nynee  Tal  Girls'  High  School 
as  a  Conference  institution,  and  place  it  under  direction 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  The  Seetapore  Girls'  School 
was  elevated  to  a  Christian  Girls'  Boarding  School  for 
Oudh.  They  also  recommended  the  establishment  of  a 
Sanitarium  at  Almorah.  Mrs.  Humphrey,  after  an  ab- 
sence in  America  since  1874,  returned  and  took  charge 
of  Nynee  Tal  Woman's  work. 

For  several  years  the  establishment  of  a  rschool  for 
European  and  Eurasian  girls  at  Nynee  Tal  had  been  de- 
sired, and  Miss  Knowles,  having  arrived  December,  1 881, 
opened  this  school  February  i,  1882,  with  nine  day 
pupils,  and  closed  the  year  with  sixteen  day  pupils  and 
eight  boarders.  The  chief  object  of  the  school  was  to 
bring  the  children  of  parents  of  Christian  nationality  and 
speech  into  more  definite  experience  of  religious  truth, 
that  they  might  illustrate  the  power  of  Christians  in  the 
land.  The  Woman's  Conference  of  18S2  had  recom- 
mended that  a  Home  for  Homeless  Women  be  established 


North  India  Conference,  1884.  39 

in  Lucknow.  In  March,  1882,  the  Gulam  Husain  Mag- 
bara  property  was  purchased  for  this  purpose,  and  in 
April  three  women  entered  the  Home,  the  number  in- 
creasing to  twenty  by  the  close  of  the  year  under  Miss 
Blackmar's  charge.  The  Cawnpore  Girls'  High  School 
presented  the  sixth  report  through  Miss  Easton,  super- 
intendent, 

22.  North  India  Conference,  1884. 

The  twentieth  session  of  the  Conference,  at  Cawnpore, 
January  9-15,  1884,  elected  Dr.  T.  J.  Scott  president. 
Allan  J.  Maxwell  and  William  R.  Clancy  were  received 
by  transfer  from  America.  J.  T.  M'Mahon  and  T.  J. 
Scott  left  for  America  for  a  season  of  recuperation, 
Mrs,  Mary  Wheeler  Greenwold,  wife  of  Rev.  F.  W. 
Greenwold,  who  was  educated  in  the  Girls'  Orphanage, 
and  in  medicine  under  Miss  Swain,  M.D.,  died  during 
the  year.  Miss  Laura  Hyde,  M.D.,  arrived  from 
America.  Rev.  P.  T.  Wilson,  M.D.,  was  officiating 
principal  and  assistant  to  Dr.  Valentine  in  the  Agra 
Medical  Training  School.  The  thirteenth  session  of  the 
Woman's  Conference  convened  at  Cawnpore  at  this  time. 
The  Conference  thanked  J.  H.  Frey,  Esq.,  of  Baltimore, 
Md.,  for  valuable  aid  in  establishing  low-grade  schools 
in  Oudh,  similar  to  those  supported  by  Dr.  Goucher  in 
Rohilcund.  Rev.  T.  Craven  was  appointed  to  represent 
the  Conference  in  the  next  delegated  Conference.  B.  H. 
Badley  was  chosen  to  represent  the  Conference  in  the 
coming  celebration  of  the  Centenary  of  Methodism  in 
America,  J.  E.  Scott  being  appointed  alternate.  E.  W. 
Parker  was  elected  ministerial  delegate  and  T.  J.  Scott 
reserve  delegate  to  the  ensuing  General  Conference;  R. 
C.  Bose  was  elected  the  lay  delegate  to  that  body. 


40  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Rev.  James  Baume,  after  some  years  of  pastoral 
service  in  America,  was  welcomed  back  to  India.  Rev. 
Nathan  Sites,  of  China,  was  among  the  visitors.  The 
native  Church  at  Budaon  this  year  reached  the  point  of 
self-support.  The  Centennial  School,  Lucknow,  rejoiced 
in  a  new  edifice  which  is  mentioned  elsewhere.  The 
most  interesting  feature  of  the  Conference  session  was 
the  presence  of  Dr.  Butler.  Twenty-seven  years  before 
Dr.  Butler  arrived  in  India  and  began  this  mission  work. 
He  retired  to  America  on  the  completion  of  the  Annual 
Conference  organization,  and  now,  after  nineteen  years, 
had  returned  to  visit  the  scene  of  his  former  labors. 
Mrs.  Butler,  who  had  all  tlie  while  shared  his  duties,  his 
trials,  and  his  triumphs,  accompanied  him,  as  did  also 
their  daughter.  The  Conference  delighted  to  do  them 
honor,  and  thanked  Dr.  M'Cabe,  Secretary  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  through  whose  kindly  offices  the  way  was 
opened  for  this  visit  from  the  founder  of  the  mission. 

The  increase  of  intemperance  among  the  natives  of 
India  had  become  painful  and  alarming,  through  the 
government  "  Outstill  "  system.  The  multiplication  of 
clieap  distilleries  had  greatly  reduced  the  price  of  in- 
toxicating liquors,  making  it  possible  for  the  common 
laboring  natives  to  drink  to  excess.  The  privilege  of 
manufacturing  very  cheap  yet  very  poisonous  liquors 
was  sold  for  revenue,  sites  being  given  to  the  highest 
bidders,  -the  government  stimulating  active  competition. 
Any  village  might  thus  set  up  a  factory,  and  if  in  any 
village  no  person  was  found  willing  to  engage  in  this 
business  the  government  supplied  one  from  a  distance. 
There  was  not  "  local  option,"  nor  any  other  sort  of 
option.  The  Conference  entered  its  protest  against  this 
system. 


North  India  Conference^  1884.  4I 

The  wide-spread  religious  interest  which  had  ob- 
tained in  the  Bijnour,  Budaon,  and  Moradabad  Dis- 
trict, this  year  manifested  itself  in  the  Shahjchanpore 
charge;  and,  singularly  enough,  in  the  region  of  Tilhur, 
Rev.  Mr.  Bare  said  it  began  among  some  religious 
ascetics.  The  work  in  Eastern  Kumaon  was  unavoida- 
bly left  without  an  American  minister  this  year,  and  the 
responsibility  of  its  superintendency  fell  on  Miss  Budden 
and  Miss  Nickerson  of  the  Woman's  Society.  Although 
the  missionary  force  in  Lucknow  was  depleted  and 
weaker  than  for  twenty  years  before,  the  success  had 
been  the  greatest  of  its  history,  there  being  more  acces- 
sions from  heathendom  in  ten  months  than  there  had 
been  during  the  first  ten  years  of  the  work  in  that  city. 
This  success  was  mostly  among  the  lowest  caste  of 
Hindus,  though  they  were  men  of  average  salary  and 
holding  respectable  secular  positions  ;  of  twenty-seven, 
two  thirds  were  cooks  and  bearers  to  civil  and  military 
officers. 

The  system  of  visitation  of  large  religious  melas,  or 
festivals,  in  the  Oudh  District  was  kept  up,  and  was  not 
without  fruit.  Of  the  Devi  Patan  mela  at  Bahraich,  the 
missionary  wrote: 

"  Here,  in  a  fierce  hot  wind,  and  amid  the  awful  taint 
of  a  thousand  sacrifices  daily,  we  preached  to  unusually 
large  crowds  of  blood-stained  people  for  over  a  week. 
Never  was  the  grand,  ineffable  offering  of  the  cross  seen 
by  us  in  brighter  and  more  glorious  contrast  than  when 
preached  in  power  at  this  mela,  flowing  with  the  blood 
of  sucking  pigs,  goats,  and  buffaloes,  which  could  not 
possibly  wash  away  the  sins  of  the  poor,  ignorant  but 
earnest  worshipers.  O  how  eagerly  and  earnestly  the 
people  listened  to  the  life-giving  words,  '  The  blood  of 


42  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Jesus  Christ,  his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin,*  and 
verses  of  like  import !  Two  Brahmin  pandits  were  the 
first  to  come  out  and  seek  an  interest  in  'the  Lamb  of 
God.'  Tliey  both  confessed  that  by  believing  on  Christ 
they  had  gained  what  the  blood  of  animals  could  never 
give — peace  of  conscience  and  blessed  hope.  They 
were  baptized  in  the  mela,  and  with  the  names  of  Anob 
Masih  and  Masih  Datt,  they  went  to  their  village 
changed  and  happy  men.  Then  came  two  Brahmins, 
one  Kayast,  one  Kurmee,  one  Dhunna,  and  one  Mussul- 
man, and  openly  confessed  Christ,  and  were  all  baptized 
before  the  astonished  crowds  at  the  mela.  But  the 
greatest  triumph  of  God's  grace  at  this  fearful  pande- 
monium was  the  conversion  and  baptism  of  one  of  the 
oldest  officiating  priests  at  the  temple  where  the  sacri- 
fices were  offered.  He  heard  the  story  of  the  cross,  be- 
lieved, and  was  saved.  He  was  the  last  one  baptized  at 
the  mela  ere  we  struck  our  tents,  and  hastened  back  by 
forced  marches  to  Gondah.  Our  brethren  have  since 
visited  the  villages  in  which  most  of  the  above  baptized 
reside,  and  found  they  were  doing  their  best  to  serve 
their  new  Master,  and  live  a  life  pure  from  sin.  The 
priest  baptized  at  the  mela  was  found  dead  in  his  temple 
cell  a  few  weeks  after  we  left,  and  it  is  feared  that  some 
of  his  heathen  brethren  had  sacrificed  him  to  their  hatred 
of  the  name  of  Christ.  His  body  rests  near  Tulsipur, 
but  his  soul,  is,  we  believe,  with  Christ  in  heaven." 

23.  North  India  Conference,  1885. 

Bishop  Hurst  presided  at  the  twenty-first  session  of 
the  Conference,  Bareilly,  January  7-12,  1885.  Noble 
L.  Rockey,  of  Colorado,  and  William  T.  Oldham,  of 
the  South  India  Conference,  were  admitted  by  transfer. 


North  India  Conference,  1885.  ^3 

James  Mudge  and  J.  L.  Humphrey  were  transferred  to 
home  Conferences,  and  W.  T.  Oldham  to  the  South  In- 
dia Conference.  T.  J.  Scott,  J.  T.  M'Mahon,  J.  E.  Scott, 
1).  W.  Thomas,  G.  H.  M'Grew,  and  R.  Hoskins  were  in 
America.  F.  W.  Foote  had  arrived,  and  was  in  charge 
of  the  Memorial  School  at  Cawnpore.  It  was  resolved 
that  in  future  the  business  of  this  Conference  should  be 
conducted  in  the  Hindustani  language.  The  Frey 
Schools  in  Oudh  were  seriously  crippled  by  the  death  of 
tlieir  founder.  The  new  Goucher  Central  School  at 
Moradabad  was  doing  good  work.  A  commodious  new 
press  building  in  Lucknow  had  been  erected  with  large 
additions  to  the  plant  secured  by  Mr.  Craven  during 
his  visit  to  America.  A  memoir  was  adopted  of  Mrs. 
Sarah  A.  Judd,  who,  with  her  husband,  was  among  the 
pioneer  members  of  this  mission.  She  had  died  May 
30,  1884,  in  Binghamton,  N.  Y.  For  eighteen  years  she 
was  connected  with  this  mission,  and  her  rich  experi- 
ence, which  gave  her  ever  "  a  heart  at  leisure  from  itself," 
made  her  one  of  the  eminent  spiritual  forces  of  the  mis- 
sion. Land  was  secured  for  a  Goucher  Boarding  House 
in  Moradabad.  Thirteen  Goucher  Schools  were  in 
operation.  Rev.  H.  Mansell  was  this  year  Principal  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  and  Normal  School  at  Bareilly. 
Rohilcund  District  reported  eight  thousand  five  hun- 
dred and  twenty  Sunday-school  children. 

Rigid  application  of  the  rule  of  itineration  by  limita- 
tion of  term  had  never  been  made  in  any  of  our  foreign 
missions,  but  this  year  almost  the  entire  force,  tlie  pre- 
siding elder  and  almost  every  preacher,  was  a  new  ap- 
pointee throughout  the  entire  Province  of  Kumaon  and 
British  Gurliwal,  with  a  i^opulation  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand. 


44  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

In  Shahjelianporc  another  advance  was  made  in  de- 
veloping workers  by  the  establishment  of  a  scliool  from 
the  first  to  the  fifth  of  each  month,  to  attend  which  all 
the  colporteurs  and  evangelists  were  regularly  called. 
The  mission  lost  this  year  by  the  retirement  from  India 
one  of  the  noblest  friends  and  patrons  it  had  ever  found. 
Hon.  Sir  Henry  Ramsey,  C.B.,  K.C.S.I.,  resigned  the 
Commissionership  of  Kumaon  and  retired  to  England. 
He  was  revered  by  the  whole  native  community,  who 
esteemed  him  "  The  father  of  Gurhwal,"  as  well  as  the 
incarnation  of  justice.  He  had  always  given  liberally  to 
the  enterprises  of  the  missions  in  this  province. 

Andrias,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Conference  year,  vol- 
untarily gave  up  his  salary,  trusting  his  countrymen  for 
support  as  he  had  done  when  a.  faqtr  or  Hindu  gnru^ 
and  had  itinerated  among  the  people.  He  had  remark- 
able power  and  influence  ;  shrewd,  eloquent,  and  de- 
voted, he  spent  weeks  among  the  Chumar  villages,  often 
sitting  up  till  midnight  to  explain  the  Gospel  message 
to  eager  listeners.  The  people  contributed  to  his  sus- 
tenance, though  they  gave  him  little  money.  In  his 
presence  a  heathen  altar  was  thrown  down,  the  people 
declaring  they  would  use  it  no  more  ;  henceforth  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  be  their  object  of  adoration, 
and  the  offerings  given  to  idolatrous  priests  should 
be  given  to  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  He  had  developed 
quite  a  skill  of  late  in  the  use  of  medicine.  Many  took 
it  from  his  hands  and  were  cured.  He  always  accom- 
panied his  prescriptions  with  prayer. 

The  Annual  District  Conference  and  carnp-meeting 
lield  at  Chandausi,  December,  1884,  illustrates  the 
growth  of  the  District  Conference,  its  careful  scrutiny 
into  Church  life,  and  its  judicious  attempts  to  regulate 


North  India  Conference,  1885.  45 

improprieties.  The  camp-meeting,  which  had  become 
the  occasion  for  the  gathering,  was  attended  by  eight 
hundred  native  Christians.  It  was  known  that  for  a 
few  years  past  some  of  the  weaker  native  Christians  liad 
succumbed  to  the  old  habits  of  their  people  in  regard  to 
Hindu  marriage  usages.  This  District  Conference 
l)lainly  charged  that  some  Christians  were  falling  into 
these  irregularities.  Some  parents,  they  said,  married 
their  children  while  mere  children ;  some  observed  ob- 
jectionable heathen  customs  in  ceremonies  at  weddings  ; 
some  took  money  for  their  girls,  which  was  tantamount 
to  selling  them,  and  some  received  presents  improperly. 
The  District  Conference  resolved  that  fellowship  with 
those  who  did  these  things  should  cease,  and  specified 
that  boys  should  not  be  espoused  under  sixteen,  nor 
girls  under  thirteen  years  of  age ;  that  marriage  in 
Christian  families  by  the  heathen  method  of  espousal 
should  not  be  allowable,  and  that  such  espousals,  if 
made,  should  be  canceled.  It  also  instructed  pastors 
to  refuse  fees  at  espousals. 

The  fourteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Woman's  Con- 
ference met  at  Bareilly,  January  7-14,  1885,  Mrs.  M.  E. 
Gill,  president.  Miss  Mary  Christiancy,  M.D.,  Miss 
Fannie  M.  English,  Miss  Clara  M.  Downey,  Miss  Mary 
Reed,  Miss  Hatlie  Mansell,  and  Miss  Emily  L.  Harvey 
swelled  the  force  of  workers  in  North  India.  One 
thousand  copies  each  of  the  "Woman's  Friend"  in  Hindi 
and  Urdu  were  being  issued.  They  also  testified  to 
the  worth  of  Mis.  Sarah  A.  Judd,  deceased.  The  work 
of  the  dispensary  at  Moradabad  was  carried  on  by 
Mrs.  Jane  Plumer,  the  native  doctor  who  had  been 
trained  in  medicine  under  the  medical  women  of  this 

society.     She  had  treated  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and 
4  ' 


40  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

twenty-six  patients.  A  revival  had  occurred  in  the 
Bareilly  Orphanage  in  charge  of  Miss  Sparkes,  commenc- 
ing with  a  great  spiritual  blessing  received  by  s.  blind 
girl  during  the  preaching  of  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Field- 
brave.  Frequently,  when  awake  in  the  night,  the  mis- 
sionaries would  hear  subdued  voices  in  singing  and 
prayer,  with  weeping  and  praising,  and  in  the  morning 
some  one  would  come  running  to  tell  how  they  had  been 
unable  to  sleep  because  of  spiritual  convictions  or  bless- 
ings. The  blind  girl  was  an  unfortunate  creature  who 
had  lost  her  tonsil  from  a  spell  of  sickness. 

24.  North  India  Conference,  1886-1887. 

In  the  absence  of  a  Bishop,  Rev.  Henry  Mansell  was 
chosen  to  preside  over  the  twenty-second  session  of 
the  Conference  which  convened  at  Lucknow,  January 
7-12, 1886.  De  Loss  M,  Tompkins  and  John  C.  Butcher 
were  transferred  from  Conferences  in  America.  P.  M. 
Buck  and  others  named  in  connection  with  the  preced- 
ing session  were  in  America.  The  Nynee  Tal  Boys'  Higli 
School,  established  in  1880,  was,  in  1883,  made  over  to 
a  local  committee  of  the  station,  on  whose  petition  it 
was  now  re-transferred  to  the  control  of  the  Conference. 
The  proposal  from  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  to  establish  a  woman's  college  in  Lucknow  was 
indorsed,  and  Miss  Isabella  Thoburn  appointed  agent 
of  the  same  while  in  America.  Dr.  Dease,  at  Pithora- 
garh,  had  taken  charge  of  thfe  leper  asylum  of  the 
Mission  to  Lepers.  Dr.  Waugh  reported  favorably  re- 
garding the  progress  of  the  Boys'  and  Girls'  Boarding 
Schools  at  the  remote  mountain  station  Dwarahat.  The 
route  of  pilgrim  travel  to  the  upper  Himalayas  had  been 
materially  changed,  and  as   the  tide  now   turned    past 


North  India  Conference,  1 886-1 S87.  47 

Dwarahat,  the  native  missionary  doctor,  H.  K.  Wilson, 
had  been  busy  in  his  dispensary,  treating  many  serious 
surgical  cases.  D.  C.  Monroe  had  arrived  to  aid  Mr. 
Foote  in  the  Cawnpore  Memorial  School,  which  enrolled 
students  from  all,  even  the  most  distant,  parts  of  India. 

The  Woman's  Conference  met  in  Lucknow,  January 
7-12,  1886,  Miss  E.  L.  Knowles,  president.  Theresa 
J.  Kyle  and  Sarah  Lauck  were  newly  appointed  from 
America.  Miss  Christiancy,  M.D.,  at  Moradabad,  aided 
by  Jane  V.  Plumer,  had  administered  at  the  dispensary 
to  5,764  Hmdu,  4,866  Mohammedan,  and  3,453  Christian 
patients;  atotal  of  14,083.  The  Government  Medical  Col- 
lege at  Agra  had  been  opened  to  girls  and  women,  affording 
facilities  for  Government  medical  training,  and  there  was 
a  widely-diffused  interest  in  female  medical  education  in 
India.  The  mission  had  already  at  Agra  a  number  of  girls 
under  medical  instruction  witliout  permanent  arrange- 
ment for  their  care.  The  ladies  appealed  to  the  An- 
nual Conference  to  consider  this  need,  and  to  the  Refer- 
ence Committee  to  provide  for  tlie  necessary  expense. 
The  Girls'  High  School  at  Cawnpore  required  larger 
buildings,  and  measures  were  taken  to  secure  them. 
The  Moradabad  Girls'  Boarding  School  enrolled  one 
hundred  and  eighteen  names  ;  that  at  Bareilly  had  two 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  of  whom  sixty-three  were  in  the 
boarding  department.  The  ladies  in  Lucknow  were 
visiting  regularly  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  zenana 
homes,  instructing  therein  over  one  thousand  pupils. 
There  were  eight  city  schools.  Ayodhya  was  opened 
for  the  first  time  for  zenana  work,  and  access  had  been 
gained  to  ninety  families,  forty  of  which  were  those  of 
Mohammedans. 

Miss  Laura  Hyde,  M.D.,  began  medical  work  Febru- 


48  'Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ary,  1885,  in  Cawnpore,  where  a  new  home  had  been 
erected. 

Bishop  Ninde  lield  the  twenty-third  session  of  the 
Conference  at  Morudabad,  January  5-10,  1887.  J.  H. 
Schively  was  transferred  from  Bahimore  Conference 
and  placed  in  charge  of  the  publishing-house  at  Luck- 
now.  G,  H.  M'Grew  was  transferred  to  New  York 
East  Conference.  D.  W.  Thomas,  P.  M.  Buck,  H.  F. 
Kastendieck  were  in  America.  A  "  Chapel  Fund,"  to 
aid  native  Christians  in  building  village  chapels,  had 
been  begun,  817  rupees  being  in  possession  of  a  board 
of  trustees  of  said  fund.  This  Conference,  having  a 
share  in  the  responsible  work  of  the  revision  of  the 
Hindi  Scriptures,  under  the  auspices  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  had  some  time  ago  appointed 
George  H.  M'Grew  the  representative  of  the  mission 
in  that  important  enterprise.  Mr.  M'Grew  having  re- 
tired to  America,  J.  W.  Waugh  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  The  Conference  recommended  to  the  General 
Conference  the  erection  of  three  Conferences  in  India 
instead  of  two,  as  at  present. 

The  great  religious  movement,  so  manifestly  imminent 
for  some  time  past,  broke  on  the  mission  during  the  year 
now  closed.  In  1886  five  hundred  and  sixty  persons 
were  baptized  in  two  weeks  in  one  neighborhood  in  the 
north  part  of  Gondah  District. 

A  great  revival  work  also  developed  on  the  Shahje- 
hanpore  Circuit  among  followers  of  Rae  Das,  under  the 
charge  of  Rev.  C.  L.  Bare,  hereafter  narrated  in  the  sec- 
tion on  depressed  classes. 

The  Memorial  High  School  at  Cawnpore  closed  its 
twelfth  year  with  fifty-five  scholars.  The  Centennial 
High  School,  Lucknow,  had  a  total  enrollment,  M^y  i, 


North  India  Conference,  1886-1887.  49 

of  five  hundred  and  forty,  and  closed  the  year  with  four 
hundred,  eighty  of  whom  were  Christians,  eighty  Mo- 
hammedans, the  others  Hindus.  The  premises  had 
been  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  two  acres  purchased 
with  the  kind  assistance  of  Corresponding  Secretary 
Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  making  the  whole  now  seven  acres.  A 
public  meeting  was  held  in  this  institution  in  Novem- 
ber to  welcome  Bishop  Ninde. 

The  boundaries  of  the  North  India  Conference  were 
extended  to  include  nearly  the  entire  territory  of  the 
North-Avest  Provinces  of  India,  making  the  total  popula- 
tion embraced  in  it  now  (1887)  not  less  than  thirty  mil- 
lions of  people. 

The  sixteenth  session  of  the  Woman's  Conference, 
called  the  seventeenth  in  their  Minutes,  convened  in 
Moradabad,  January  5-12,  1887,  Mrs.  Craven,  president. 
Miss  Anna  Lawson,  Miss  Delia  A.  Fuller,  Miss  Kate 
M'Dowell,  M.D.,  and  Miss  Oriel  Miller  were  sent  from 
America.  Miss  Mary  L.  Ninde,  daughter  of  Bishop 
Ninde,  was  introduced  to  the  Conference.  The  publica- 
tion of  the  "Woman's  Friend"  in  Marathi,  at  Madras, 
was  recommended. 

Moradabad  rejoiced  in  the  dedication.  May  19,  1886, 
of  the  new  Girls'  Boarding  School  building,  the  first 
building  ever  erected  in  that  city  for  the  special  benefit 
of  girls  and  women.  Five  hundred  women  were  present, 
three  hundred  of  whom  came  from  the  city.  Most  of 
the  zenana  women  had  never  seen  any  thing  of  the  kind 
before.  Nearly  a  thousand  girls  had  been  trained  here, 
and  Mrs.  Parker,  who  had  seen  this  work  from  the  be- 
ginning, rejoiced  to  see  women  of  three  religions  taking 
part. 

The   Lucknow  Woman's   College   was  begun   during 


5©  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  latter  half  of  the  year  1886  with  three  students. 
Affiliation  was  sought  and  secured  with  the  Calcutta 
University  under  the  suggestion  of  E.  White,  Esq., 
C.S.,  Director  of  Public  Instruction,  and  the  sanction 
of  His  Excellency  Lord  Dufferin,  Viceroy  of  India  ; 
Miss  H.  V.  Mansell  was  principal.  Miss  Dr.  Laura 
Hyde's  health  failed,  and  she  went  to  the  mountains 
and  was  never  again  able  to  resume  her  work  in  Cawn- 
pore.  Miss  Emily  L.  Harvey  succeeded  to  the  super- 
intendency  of  the  Cawnpore  Girls'  High  School,  Miss 
Easton  having  been  obliged  to  seek  rest  in  America. 

25.  North  India  Conference,  1888. 

Rev.  J,  H.  Gill  was  chosen  president  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  session  of  the  Conference,  which  met  at  Cawn- 
pore, January  4-9,  1888.  George  F.  Hopkins  was  re- 
ceived by  transfer  from  the  Wilmington  Conference.  P. 
M.  Buck,  D.  M.  Tompkins,  and  J.  H.  Gill  were  trans- 
ferred to  home  Conferences.  D.  W.  Thomas  was  elected 
delegate  to  General  Conference ;  J.  H.  Gill,  alternate. 
The  work  had  become  so  extended  and  diversified  that 
the  missions  felt  the  need  of  more  continuous  episcopal 
supervision  than  could  be  had  by  annual  visitations  of 
the  Bishops,  and  the  Conference  requested  the  General 
Conference  to  provide  for  a  General  Superintendent  to 
reside  in  India.  The  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Centen- 
nial High  School  at  Lucknow  at  their  annual  meeting, 
December,  1887,  resolved  to  elevate  it  to  the  grade  of  a 
college,  July  1,1888.  The  attendance  in  the  school  had  in- 
creased most  encouragingly.  Dr.  Waugh  succeeded  D.  M, 
Tompkins,  who  had  gone  to  America,  in  charge  of  the 
Nynee  Tal  High  School.  Cholera  visited  Pithoragarh, 
and,   though  few   died,  it  seriously  interfered  with  the 


North  India  Conference,  1888.  51 

work.  Revival  meetings  were  held  at  three  separate 
points  in  Gurhwal.  The  Agra  and  Muttra  Circuit  had 
been  transferred  from  the  South  India  Conference  to 
this  Conference.  Dr.  Parker,  Presiding  Elder  of  Rohil- 
cund  District,  reported  that  there  were  now  no  less 
than  one  hundred  and  five  centers  on  that  district  where 
a  worker,  either  preacher  or  teacher,  resided,  and  that 
there  were  native  Christians  resident  in  three  hundred 
different  towns  and  villages.  The  mission  did  not  con- 
tribute to  them  financially,  for,  though  poor,  they  were 
independent  and  asked  nothing  of  the  mission.  These 
Christian  villagers  exercised  great  influence  over  the 
non-Christian  community  around  them. 

The  Leper  Asylum  in  East  Kumaon  rejoiced  in  a 
new  chapel,  twelve  of  the  wretched  inmates  being  bap- 
tized on  the  day  of  the  opening  of  the  new  place  of 
worship.  Rev.  Abel  Stevens,  D.D.,  the  Methodist  his- 
torian, wlio  visited  the  mission  during  the  year,  ad- 
dressed the  students  of  the  High  School  at  Nynee  Tal. 

Mr.  Schively  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  English 
Church,  Lucknow,  and  Rev.  A.  T.  Leonard,  formerly  of 
the  South  India  Conference,  took  charge  of  the  press. 
The  total  number  of  pages  published  this  year  was 
6,563,122. 

Mrs.  Scott  continued  to  train  the  wives  of  the  students 
of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Bareilly,  forty-two  being 
enrolled,  of  whom  twenty  were  pursuing  a  four  years' 
course  of  study.  The  Normal  School  graduated  a  mid- 
dle class  of  seven.  The  Central  School,  Moradabad, 
was  raised  to  a  High  School  under  Dr.  Butcher's  charge. 
One  hundred  boys  were  promoted  to  this  school  from 
the  small  schools  of  Rohilcund.  This  High  School 
was  designed  strictly  to  be  a  training  school.     Agra  and 


52  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Muttra  Circuit,  of  the  South  India  Conference,  had  been 
transferred  to  the  North  India  Conference,  and  was  in 
charge  of  Rev.  W.  R.  Clancy. 

The  seventeenth  annual  session  of  the  Woman's 
Conference  met  in  Cawnpore,  January  4-9,  1888  ;  Mrs. 
Dr.  Mansell  presided.  Miss  Anna  Gallimore  arrived 
from  America.  Miss  Nickerson,  Miss  Kerr,  and  Miss 
Woolston,  M.D.,  had  deceased  during  the  year,  and 
the  Conference  entered  suitable  memorial  tributes  to 
them  on  the  record.  The  "Woman's  Friend"  in  Tamil 
("  Mathar  Mathiri  ")  received  an  appropriation  in  answer 
to  the  solicitation  of  Rev.  A.  W.  Rudisill  that  he  be  al- 
lowed to  inaugurate  an  edition  in  that  language.  The 
Girls'  High  School  at  Lucknow  enrolled  one  hundred 
and  three  students,  and  the  collegiate  department  had 
passed  two  girls  at  the  entrance  e.xamination  of  the  Cal- 
cutta University. 

26.  North  India  Conference,  1889-1890. 

The  General  Conference,  of  May,  1888,  did  not 
grant  the  request  of  the  India  Conference  to  estab- 
lish the  residence  of  one  of  the  general  superintendents 
in  India.  The  matter  received  protracted  and  patient 
investigation,  and  was  warmly  discussed  with  the  result 
that  the  Conference  elected  Rev.  James  M.  Thoburn, 
D.D.,  Missionary  Bishop  of  India  and  Malaysia.  He 
was  duly  ordained,  and,  having  returned  to  India,  now 
presided  over  the  twenty-fifth  session  of  the  North  India 
Conference,  Bareilly,  January  9-15,  1889,  being  warmly 
welcomed  in  his  new  official  relation  by  the  Conference. 

The  Asiatic  field,  to  which  the  Bishop  was  assigned 
by  the  General  Conference,  embraced  the  whole  of  the 
Indian  Empire,  and  also  the  Malay  Peninsula  and  the 


North  Iiuiia  Conference,  18S9-1890.  53 

Malay  Islands  to  the  south-east  of  Asia.  In  former  years 
Singapore,  with  its  dependencies,  was  attached  to  India, 
but  more  recently  it  had  been  set  apart  with  a  colonial 
Government,  and  was  now  known  as  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments. The  islands  belonging  to  Holland  are  known 
as  Netherlands  Indies. 

The  work  in  this  vast  region  was  under  the  care  of 
three  Annual  Conferences  and  one  mission.  The  oldest 
and  most  prosperous  of  these  was  the  North  India  Con- 
ference, which  embraced  Oudh  and  nearly  all  the  terri- 
tory of  the  North-west  Provinces,  with  a  population  of 
about  43,000,000.  This  Conference,  holding  the  upper 
part  of  the  Gangetic  valley,  included  the  chief  seats  of 
ancient  Hinduism,  and  within  its  borders  the  death 
struggle  of  the  Hindu  system  will  probably  be  witnessed. 
The  work  throughout  the  Conference  was  well  organ- 
ized, and  in  some  sections  was  advancing  with  a  steadily 
increasing  momentum.  The  most  encouraging  feature 
of  the  work  was  that  a  large  body  of  youth  of  both  sexes 
had  been  gathered  into  the  schools,  and  there  was  reason 
to  hope  that  in  a  very  few  years  the  number  of  workers 
would  be  more  than  doubled.  There  was  also  the  open- 
ing of  new  and  very  hopeful  fields,  in  which  there  was 
every  prospect  of  reaping  a  rich  harvest  at  an  early 
day. 

The  South  India  Conference  now  included  the  Bom- 
bay and  Madras  Presidencies,  with  a  part  of  Central 
India,  and  contained  a  population  of  about  81,000,000. 
The  members  of  this  Conference  had  been  sorely  afflicted 
during  the  year,  two  of  them  having  been  bereaved  of 
their  wives,  and  three  having  been  obliged  to  return  to 
America  in  feeble  health.  One  had  been  laid  aside  most 
of  the  year,  and   two  other  families  were  still  so  sorely 


54  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

afflicted  that  their  stay  in  India  begins  to  look  doubtful. 
Nevertheless,  God  had  not  left  the  laborers  without 
tokens  of  blessing.  Baptisms  had  taken  place  at  nearly 
all  the  stations,  and  in  several  places  the  outlook  was 
extremely  hopeful. 

The  Bengal  Conference,  organized  in  January,  1887, 
was  geograi^hically  the  largest  of  the  three  Conferences, 
and  contained  a  population  of  125,000,000,  or  nearly 
one  half  the  entire  population  of  India.  It  stretched 
from  the  Indus  to  the  southern  boundary  of  Burmah, 
and  was  large  enough  to  be  divided  into  two  Confer- 
ences. In  Burmah,  far  to  the  south-east,  and  in  the 
Punjab,  far  to  the  north-west,  many  inviting  doors 
opened,  and  the  Church  was  constantly  constrained  to 
cry  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  for  more  laborers. 

Charles  W.  Simmons  and  Philo  M.  Buck  were  received 
by  transfer.  Mr.  Buck  was  again  transferred  to  Bengal, 
and  H.  F.  Kastendieck  to  New  York  Conference.  Rev. 
M.  V.  B.  Knox,  of  the  New  Hampshire  Conference,  was 
a  visitor  at  this  Conference  session.  In  view  of  the 
extension  of  the  work  in  the  villages  more  rapidly  than 
the  people  could  provide  the  new  houses  of  worship 
necessary,  the  Conference  resolved  to  establish  a  "Vil- 
lage Chapel  Aid  Fund  ; "  the  moneys  contributed  for 
which  were  to  be  invested,  the  interest  only  being  used, 
appropriations  to  be  limited  to  one  half  the  amount 
contributed  locally  for  sucli  chapel  building.  Grateful 
recognition  was  made  of  the  gift  of  $3,000  by  W.  E.  Black- 
stone  to  found  a  Deaconess  Home  at  Muttra.  Bishop 
Thoburn  ruled  that  the  assistants  in  the  Woman's  Con- 
ference might  be  appointed  by  the  Bishop  just  as  the 
missionaries  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
were,  as  "lay  workers,"  the  latter  having  been  for  some 


North  India  Conference,  1889- 1890.  55 

years  regularly  appointed  to  their  work  in  the  foreign 
missions  by  ihe  Bishop  presiding  at  the  Conference. 
.  Rev.  James  Baume  had  been  for  five  years  pastor  of 
-the  English  Church  at  Nynee  Tal  without  having  been 
re -transferred  from  the  Rock  River  Conference.  He 
had  rendered  important  service  to  other  departments  of 
fthe  work  in  Nynee  Tal.  Being  about  to  return  to  Amer- 
(ica,  the  Conference  gratefully  acknowledged  the  good 
service  he  and  Mrs.  Baume  had  rendered  the  mission. 
A  fine  property  for  the  Boys'  High  School  at  Nynee 
.Tal,'  costing  52,000  rupees,  had  been  secured.  The 
Centennial  School  had  become  a  College  affiliated  with 
the  Allahabad  University,  and  the  Government  had 
granted  a  site  for  a  building,  conditioned  on  its  being 
built  on  within  two  years. 

At  a  previous  session  of  the  Conference  the  proposal 
to  establish,  a  "Post-Graduate  School"  was  agreed  to, 
and  the  faculty  was  now  prepared  to  receive  names  of 
.candidates.  It  was  not  designed  to  give  any  instruction 
whatever,  only  to  hold  examinations  and  certify  to  a  stand- 
ard of  excellence  in  courses  of  study  prescribed  by  the 
school.  This  was  intended  to  aid  all  who  wished  to  pur- 
sue their  studies  along  the  line  of  their  taste  or  ability 
as  scholars.  Twelve  sub-divisions  were  presented  in 
the  first  division  English,  covering  a  very  wide  and 
somewhat  profound  course,  from  which  the  student 
might  select  any  five. 

The  increase  in  Church  membership  was  very  marked, 
equaling  nearly  one  fourth  of  the  entire  number  of 
members  of  the  year  before,  and  the  native  Christian 
community  had  increased  1,602.  There  were  49  or- 
dained native  members  of  Conference,  123  local  preach- 
ers, and   26,585    Sunday-school   scholars.     Muttra   this 


56  Methodist  Episcopal  MisstoNs. 

year  made  its  first  separate  report  as  an  appointmeht. 
Muttra  District  was  stated  to  have  a  population  of  671,- 
690  souls,  mostly  Brahmins,  Thakurs,  and  Baniyas. 
Among  Hindus,  Muttra  District  is  the  holiest  place  in 
India.  Muttra,  Brindaban,  Gokul,  and  Gobardhun, 
within  a  few  miles  of  each  other,  are  of  national  repu- 
tation. Muttra  is  located  on  the  right  bank  of  the  sacted 
Jumna  River,  thirty  miles  above  Agra,  with  a  population 
of  55,763,  about  one  fifth  of  whom  are  Mohammedans. 
It  was  once  a  famous  Buddhist  city,  and  is  now  cele- 
brated as  the  birth-place  of  Shri  Krishna,  the  eighth 
incarnation  of  Vishnu.  Countless  pilgrims  bathe  in  the 
stream  at  this  place,  and  the  houses  are  covered  with 
roaming,  deified  monkeys.  Brindaban,  six  miles  above 
Muttra  by  rail,  contained  21,467  population.  It  was  a 
former  residence  of  Krishna  and  had  a  thousand  tem- 
ples. The  interior  of  one  of  these  temples,  the  Govind 
Deva,  was  said  to  compare  favorably  With  Westminster 
Abbey.  The  Rajah  of  Jeypore  expended  $800,000  on 
another  of  these  holy  edifices.  The  Seth's  Temple, 
737x440  feet,  was  six  years  in  building  and  cost  $2,000,000. 
Its  endowment  yielded  117,000  rupees  annually. 

In  the  Sunday-school  the  most  marked  increase  of  the 
year  was  of  Cliristian  pupils,  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  ad- 
vance being  from  that  class.  The  great  number  of  recent 
baptisms  accounted  for  that.  What  was  more  remark- 
able still,  was  the  fact  that  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  increase 
in  these  Sunday-schools  was  of  girls  and  women  ;  1,032 
non-Christian  girls  being  added  against  only  96  nofi- 
Christian  boys,  making  the  proportion  of  girls  ninety- 
one  per  cent,  of  the  whole  increase  of  numbers.  This 
was  attributed  to  the  better  organization  in  detail  of 
work  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  mis- 


North  India  Conference,  1889-1890.  57 

sionaries,  who  trained  their  native  workers  most  thor- 
oughly. 

The  Conference  viewed  with  concern  the  dependence 
of  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  work  on  money  contrib- 
uted from  abroad,  and  seriously  studied  the  problem  of 
the  greater  development  of  indigenous  resources  of  the 
native  Church,  The  subject  of  bringing  the  publica- 
tions of  the  press  within  the  means  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians was  still  a  serious  one.  Five  cents  was  the  price 
of  some  of  these  issues,  but  that  was  the  usual  price  of 
a  day's  labor.  The  press  had  distributed  two  million 
pages  free. 

The  Centennial  High  School  now  became  the  Lucknow 
Christian  College,  and  as  such  it  was  re-inaugurated, 
July  2,  1888.  Of  this  mention  will  be  further  made  in 
the  consideration  of  some  educational  institutions  of  the 
Conference  as  a  whole.  Rev.  Isaac  Fieldbrave  with- 
drew from  the  Conference,  having  accepted  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission  at 
Allahabad.  Dr.  Johnson,  Presiding  Elder  of  Oudh 
District,  furnished  in  his  report  fresh  testimony  of  the 
blessings  attending  on  labors  at  the  Christian  mela  which 
had  grown  up  around  the  annual  session  of  the  District 
Conference.  He  set  forth  that  the  mela  was  a  regular 
camp-meeting,  and,  with  the  Conference,  continued  a 
full  week.  All  of  the  workers  of  the  district,  number- 
ing many  more  than  met  in  the  Annual  Conference, 
came  together  here,  when  all  their  work  was  carefully 
considered,  and  the  workers,  with  many  others,  waited 
upon  God  for  blessing  and  strength  for  further  service. 
The  meeting  of  1889  was  the  most  profitable  ever  had. 
A  number  of  preachers  entered  into  a  fuller  personal 
experience  of  spiritual  life  and  power  than  they  had  ever 


58  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

before  known,  as  had  been  manifest  in  their  work  dur-. 
ing  the  year,  while  all  in  the  camp  were  greatly  blessed 
and  encouraged.  Miss  Leonard,  who  was  present,  added 
greatly  to  the  interest  of  the  meetings.  It  was  realized 
tiiat  these  workers,  scattered  among  the  millions  who 
knew  not  Christ,  needed  the  fullness  of  his  presence, 
that  they  might  make  him  known  to  the  people...  While 
the  indifference  and  opposition  were  very  great,  there, 
was  more  promise  and  greater  success  in  all  departments, 
of  the  work  than  ever  before.  .  '.  >• 

The  eighteenth  session  of  the  Woman's  Conference 
was  held  in  Bareilly,  January  9-15,  1889,  Mrs.. Maxwell, 
presiding. 

Owing  to  the  heat  of  the  plains  and  the  expense  of 
sending  the  girls  from  the  hills  for  medical  training  in; 
Agra,  the  Conference  appointed  Pithbra^arh  as  the  pKcej 
for  a  medical  training  class  for  hill  girls.  The  ladies 
resolved  to  meet  the  ladies  of  the  other  India  Confer-, 
encesat  Cawnpore  at  the  same  time  and  place"  appointed 
by  the  respective  Annual  Conferences  for  the  holding 
of  a  Central  Conference,  to  consider  woman's  work  3-rid 
to  recommend  such  measures  to  the  Central  Conference; 
as  they  might  judge  to  the  advantage  of  \voman's  work; 
for  woman. 

Miss  Blackmar,  after  sixteen  years  of  faithful  work  in 
schools,  zenanas,  and  the  "  Home  for  Friendless  Women," 
was  heartily  commended,  as  she  was  departing  to  a  new 
and  wide  field  of  work  at  Hyderabad,  ;Central  India, 
South  India  Conference.  Miss  Thoburn  was  specially^ 
commended  to  the  attempt  to  raise,  while  in  America,; 
$50,000  as  endowment  for  the  Woman's  College  at  Luck- 
now.  For  the  third  time  in  ten  years,  the  Widow's  Home 
in  East  Shahjehanpore  was  burned  down.     Miss  Martha.. 


North  India  Conference,  1889-1890.  59 

A.  Day,  Miss  S.  M'Burnie,  Miss  Florence  Perrine,  Miss 
Lucy  Sullivan,  and  Miss  Martha  A.  Sheldon,  M.D.,  ar- 
rived on  the  field. 

The  twenty-sixth  session  of  the  North  India  Confer- 
ence met  at  Lucknow,  January  2-7,  1890,  Bishop  Tho- 
burn,  presiding.  The  Bishop  had  been  every-where 
throughout  the  Conference  warmly  welcomed  by  the 
native  Church,  as  well  as  by  the  Europeans  and  Amer- 
icans. John  Blackstock,  William  A.  Mansell,  Frederick 
H.  Northrop,  and  Joseph  H.  Gill  were  received  by 
transfer  from  America,  and  James  B.  Thomas  from 
Bengal  Conference.  William  R.  Clancy  was  transferred 
to  Bengal,  and  J.  H.  Schively  to  South  India  Confer- 
ence. Thanks  were  expressed  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Black- 
stone,  of  America,  for  an  additional  donation  of  $2,000 
for  the  Deaconess  Home  and  Training  School  at  Mut- 
tra,  and  to  Dr.  William  Butler  for  securing  help  to  the 
*'  Village  Chapel  Aid  Fund,"  now  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  important  interests  of  the  Church.  The  aim 
was  to  provide  inexpensive  chapels  for  Christians  oc- 
cupying more  than  three  hundred  villages. 

The  continued  rapid  development  of  the  Sunday- 
schools  was  the  source  of  much  gratification.  The 
aggregate  attendance  had  now  reached  28,400  in  780 
schools,  being  an  increase,  within  the  year,  of  1,543 
pupils  and  77  schools.  A  new  column  added  to  the 
statistical  tables  showed  1,500  rupees  given  in  these 
Sunday-schools  for  Sunday-school  work.  The  "  Chil- 
dren's Day"  collection  was  700  rupees.  Over  two  thou- 
sand six  hundred  baptisms  were  reported  this  year  in 
the  Rohilcund  District  alone.  The  Conference  ex- 
pressed its  conviction  of  the  duty  to  make  special  effort 
to  extend  the  work  among  certain  castes  and  classes  of 


<6o  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

both  Hindus  and  Mussulmans  found  throughout  all  parts 
of  the  mission  field,  who  seemed  almost  persuaded  to 
leave  their  ancestral  faiths,  and  who,  it  was  thought, 
might  be  impressed  with  the  superior  claims  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  requested  the  appointment  of  a  special  evan- 
gelist agent  for  this  purpose,  and  Dr.  E.  W.  Parker  was 
so  designated. 

The  nineteenth  session  of  the  Woman's  Conference  met 
at  Lucknovv,  January  2-7, 1890,  Mrs.  Maxwell,  presiding. 
Miss  Fanny  Scott  and  Miss  Ruth  Sellers  arrived  in 
India.  The  ladies  placed  on  record  a  suitable  memo- 
rial of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Kate  Dixon  Hopkins,  wife  of 
Rev.  George  F.  Hopkins,  who  arrived  in  India  Febru- 
ary, 1888,  and  had  died  September  8,  1889. 

27.  North  India  Conference,  1891. 

The  twenty-seventh  session  of  the  North  India  Con- 
ference convened  at  Moradabad,  January  7-12,  1891, 
Bishop  Tlioburn,  presiding.  Sixty-four  members  and 
probationers  responded  to  roll  call.  John  O.  Denning 
and  David  C.  Moore  were  transferred  from  Conferences 
in  America,  and  John  E.  Newsom  from  Bengal  Confer- 
ence. J.  T.  M'Mahon,  T.  S.  Johnson,  C.  L.  Bare, 
Henry  Mansell,  F.  L.  Neeld,  and  J.  C.  Lawson  were  in 
America.  D.  W.  Thomas,  G.  W.  Isham,  and  C.  W. 
Simmons  were  transferred  to  Conferences  in  America. 
Allan  J.  Maxwell  had  died. 

All  felt  deeply  the  death  of  Mr.  Maxwell.  It  was  the 
first  instance  of  the  death  of  one  of  the  American  male 
missionaries  on  the  field  in  over  thirty  years.  Allan  J. 
Maxwell  was  born  in  Crawford  County,  Pa.,  May  13, 
185 1.  He  graduated  from  Allegheny  College,  and  sub- 
sequently completed  the  course  of  the  Boston  Theolog- 


North  India  Conferetue,  1891.  61 

ical  Seminary.  He  reached  India  1883,  and  had  been 
useful  in  many  departments,  especially  as  the  energetic 
Agent  of  the  Publishing  House  at  Lucknow.  He  died 
of  cholera,  falling  at  his  post  scarcely  yet  in  the  matur- 
ity of  his  strength.  His  death  removed  from  the  Con- 
ference one  from  whom  the  Church  had  reasonable 
grounds  to  hope  for  yet  many  years  of  great  usefulness. 
Dr.  VVaugh  was  assigned  Mr.  Maxwell's  duties  as  Pub- 
lishing Agent.  On  the  admission  of  women  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  the  Conference  vote  stood  thirty-five  for 
and  sixteen  against  the  proposition  submitted.  On  Sun- 
day, January  11,  Bishop  Thoburn  consecrated  to  the 
office  of  deaconess,  with  laying  on  of  hands,  Phoebe 
Rowe,  Lucy  M.  Sullivan,  Gertrude  F.  Matthews,  and 
Martha  A.  Sheldon.  A  petition  was  framed  asking  the 
General  Conference  to  divide  the  Missionary  Society 
into  a  Home  Missionary  Society  and  a  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society.  Resolutions  of  thanks  were  heartily 
adopted  to  Mr.  D.  L.  Moody,  for  a  magnificent  collec- 
tion of  $5,000,  raised  at  Northfield,  Mass.,  for  the  timely 
aid  of  pastor-teachers.  The  Conference  declared  that 
the  time  had  come  when  their  policy  should  be  to  spend 
money  received  from  the  Missionary  Society  for  educa- 
tion, only  on  institutions  to  develop  their  own  Christian 
community. 

The  Rev.  E.  W.  Parker,  who  had  been  appointed 
missionary  evangelist,  reported  that  new  interest  had 
been  awakened,  and  new  efforts  were  made  to  turn 
preaching  and  school  work  more  effectually  to  the  sav- 
ing of  the  people,  and  to  gathering  them  into  little 
Churches  under  pastoral  watch-care.  In  the  Moradabad, 
Meerut,  Bulandshahr,  Muzaffarnagar,  Aligarh,  Etah, 
Agra,  Ajmere,  and  Khandwa  zilas  the  work  received  a 


62  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

new  impetus,  not  in  every  case  by  the  direct  work  of 
the  special  evangelists,  but  by  the  counsel  and  assistance 
given.  Including  the  places  opened  through  the  extra  aid 
secured  by  Dr.  Peck  and  Bishop  Thoburn,  which  the  suc- 
cess of  this  work  called  out,  more  than  two  hundred  new 
centers  were  opened  by  the  end  of  October,  and  more 
than  two  hundred  places  were  still  calling  for  aid.  These 
centers  were  scattered  all  over  India.  Most  of  this 
work  was  done  by  the  regular  laborers  in  the  various 
circuits,  and  thus  the  object  was  secured  by  turning  at- 
tention to  this  kind  of  work,  arousing  an  interest  in 
it,  and  securing  the  means  needed  for  it.  Dr.  Parker 
said,  "  If  all  over  India  the  efforts  of  our  people  can  be 
turned  into  channels  of  success  in  bringing  the 
people  who  are  now  accessible  and  ready  to  Jesus,  and 
in  building  up  a  native  Church,  our  object  will  be  at- 
tained. Let  no  one  believe  for  one  moment  that  our 
object  is  merely  to  baptize.  All  converts  are  placed 
under  the  watch-care  of  Christian  pastor-teachers,  and 
schools  are  opened  for  their  children.  We  open  no  new 
center  when  we  cannot  supply  the  pastor-teacher,  who 
teaches  the  children  to  read  and  write,  and  the  inquirers 
and  Christians  the  way  of  life  more  fully." 

Rohilcund  District  witnessed  great  progress  among 
the  masses  now  turning  to  the  mission  for  salvation. 
Four  thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixteen  persons  this 
year  received  baptism  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  358  new 
places  were  opened  ;  809  Christian  workers,  all  but  29 
of  whom  were  natives,  were  working  the  field  from  229 
centers  ;  and  Christians  lived  in  1,039  cities,  towns,  and 
villages.  The  Church  now  numbered  9,508  members  and 
probationers,  and  the  Christian  community  more  than 
16,000.     This  was  an  increase  of  nearly  3,000  on  this 


North  India  Conference,  1891.  03 

single  district.  Four  hundred  and  five  day-schools  en- 
rolled an  attendance  of  8,818  pupils,  while  14,933  per- 
sons had  been  gathered  into  468  Sunday-schools. 

The  work  was  now  largely  self-propagating,  spreading 
from  member  to  member  of  the  same  family,  and  then 
from  family  to  family  in  the  same  caste,  and  from  village 
to  village,  along  caste  lines,  and  now  and  then  leaping 
over  these  boundaries  and  entering  into  and  spreading 
through  other  castes.  But  these  successes  brought  very 
grave  responsibilities.  The  work  needed  to  be  con- 
served, and  these  people  taught  and  led  into  the  posses- 
sion of  spiritual  blessings.  Only  men  and  women  of 
some  education  and  Christian  experience  could  do  this. 
Hence  the  mission  stood  in  sore  need  of  more  money 
for  this  work.  They  could  not  possibly  keep  up  with 
the  advancing  columns  without  means  to  provide  pastor- 
teachers  to  build  up  and  establish  the  recent  converts. 

Rev.  J.  E.  Scott  reported  Muttra  Circuit  as  no  mere 
experiment.  More  than  one  hundred  converts  a  year  had 
justified  its  existence.  Multiplying  inquirers,  attentive 
congregations,  and  growing  opportunities  encouraged  to 
greater  effort.  The  field  was  splendidly  laid  out  for 
work.  Within  the  sacred  precincts  (Briji  Bilas)  four  of 
the  five  most  important  places  were  occupied.  The  two 
out-stations  of  Hathras  and  Sikandra  Rao  had  been  ex- 
ceedingly fruitful.  Not  a  month  passed  without  acces- 
sions. The  churches  which  had  sprung  up  there  during 
the  past  two  years  were  growing  numerically  and  spirit- 
ually, and  in  power  for  aggressive  work.  Arrangements 
were  being  made  to  build  a  small  combined  chapel  and 
school-house  at  Hathras. 

Muttra  is  a  famous  place  for  religious  festivals 
(melas)  ;  scarcely  a  month  passes  without  one  or  more. 


€4  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

During  the  rainy  season  especially,  trains  come  crowded 
with  pilgrims  who  throng  the  sacred  resorts.  Much 
work  was  done  among  the  pilgrims.  The  great  Car  fes- 
tival {Krishna  Hath  Mela),  at  Brindaban,  was  well  at- 
tended by  missionary  workers,  who  preached  to  large 
and  attentive  audiences.  Attention  was  given  to  the 
distribution  of  Christian  literature,  especially  to  giving 
out  tracts,  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  of  Bishop 
Thoburn's  tracts  alone  having  been  put  in  the  hands  of 
pilgrims  and  others  during  the  year.  A  soldiers'  chapel, 
costing  4,000  rupees,  was  built  on  a  site  given  by  the  mili- 
tary authorities  in  the  cantonments.  It  combined  an 
audience  room,  prayer  and  reading  room,  and  coffee- 
shop.  The  English  services  were  well  attended,  and  a 
number  of  conversions  had  taken  place.  The  services 
of  the  Hindustani  Christian  congregation  were  held  in 
this  building. 

Meerut,  a  very  large  circuit  of  the  Rohilcund  Dis- 
trict, was  made  over  to  the  Mussoorie  District.  A  new 
brick  building  for  the  Native  Christian  Girls'  Boarding 
School,  of  which  Mrs,  Lawson  was  superintendent,  was 
erected  at  Seetapore.  It  was  calculated  to  provide  for 
a  hundred  girls. 

Another  illustration  of  the  forms  of  Hindu  supersti- 
tion, and  of  access  to  multitudes  through  the  native 
religious  assemblies,  is  afforded  in  the  report  of  the  itin- 
erating tours  of  the  Seetapore  missionary. 

One  of  these  tours  was  made  to  the  noted  Hindu 
shrine  called  JVeemsar,  twenty-two  miles  south  of  Seeta- 
pore, on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Ghogra.  Here,  as  the 
tradition  goes,  the  great  Ram  Chandra  "  planted  his 
footsteps,"  and  here  one  of  the  five  famous  Pandava 
brothers  made  his  abode.     One   is  forcibly   reminded 


North  Jndia  Conference,  1891.  65 

of  the  asceticism  of  mediseval  Europe  as  he  visits  the 
curious  underground  monasteries  of  this  celebrated 
shrine.  Hundreds  of  Hindu  monks  plod  their  long, 
weary  way  here,  crawl  through  the  little  hole  of  a  door- 
way, two  by  two  feet,  pass  along  the  dark,  winding  pas- 
sage to  their  lonely,  silent  retreat,  and  sit  and  pray  and 
meditate,  hoping  to  become  absorbed  into  the  deity. 
Thousands  of  pilgrims  monthly,  and  other  tens  of 
thousands  yearly,  come  here  to  wash  away  their  sins  in 
the  so-called  holy  water  of  the  large  circular  bathing 
tank.  The  water  flows  out  in  great  volume  from  the 
tank,  and  as  there  is  no  visible  inlet  the  masses  believe 
that  it  bursts  forth  from  Fatal,  the  infernal  regions.  The 
Brahmins  there  tell  the  story  that  even  the  great  English 
Government  could  not  stop  its  flow,  for  they  tried,  but 
failed.  The  missionary,  Rev.  J.  C.  Lawson,  said  :  "  On 
a  gentle  slope,  on  'one  side  of  the  main  thoroughfare 
leading  to  this  bathing-place,  for  days  we  preached  the 
Gospel  to  thousands  of  the  common  people,  who  listened 
gladly.  O,  how  attentive  they  were,  and  how  the  blessed 
word  came  home  to  them  like  a  welcome  revelation  !  No 
doubt,  in  heaven  we  shall  meet  many  who  there  for  the 
first  time  heard  about  Jesus.  Never  before  have  we 
been  so  strangely  touched  with  compassion  and  filled 
with  love  for  any  misguided  people  as  we  were  at  Neem- 
sar.  The  great  throngs  of  poor,  ignorant  pilgrims  would 
rush  pell-mell  to  the  bathing-place.  On,  on  they  go, 
family  after  family,  company  after  company,  village  after 
village,  caste  after  caste,  a  great  surging,  seething,  mov- 
ing mass  of  wild  and  reckless  human  beings.  O,  it  was 
a  pitiful  sight  !  No  wonder  that  the  dear  Saviour  had 
compassion  upon  such  multitudes." 

The  missionaries  at  Bahraich  now  pushed  their  work 


66  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

into  the  borders  of  Nepal,  establishing  a  new  station  at 
Rapaidilia.  A  new  church  building  was  erected  at  Bara 
Banki,  and  a  native  church  in  Lucknow  costing  16,000 
rupees  ;  Miss  Harvey  transferred  the  Girls'  High  School 
at  Cawnpore  to  the  building  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Boys'  Memorial  High  School ;  a  new  wing  was  to  be 
added  at  a  cost  of  28,000  rupees.  In  Gurhwal  native 
ministers  were  moving  about  among  the  people  from 
ten  or  twelve  centers. 

The  Woman's  Conference  was  held  in  Moradabad 
January  7-12,  1891,  Miss  De  Vine,  president.  Miss 
Hannah  Dudley  arrived  on  the  field.  An  important 
measure  of  this  session  of  the  Annual  Conference  and 
of  the  Woman's  Conference  was  the  joint  action  had 
with  the  Annual  Conference  concurring  in  the  removal 
of  the  higher  classes  of  the  Memorial  Boys'  High  School 
at  Cawnpore  to  the  Boys'  High  Scffool  at  Nynee  Tal, 
the  primary  department  to  be  merged  with  the  Memorial 
Girls'  High  School  at  Cawnpore,  thus  actually  transfer- 
ring the  Boys'  High  School  from  Cawnpore  to  Nynee  Tal. 
The  buildings  at  Cawnpore  were  to  be  remodeled  to 
suit  the  demands  of  the  Girls'  High  School.  The 
Woman's  Normal  Training  School  under  Mrs.  Scott, 
connected  with  the  Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  had 
grown  to  need  four  recitation  rooms.  Twenty  years 
before  Mrs.  Scott  begun  this  work  of  training  the  wives 
of  the  students  in  the  seminary  with  six  women  pupils 
on  her  veranda  ;  she  now  had  forty-four  who  had  been 
regularly  taught  all  the  year.  The  Training  School  and 
Deaconess  Home  at  Muttra,  begun  in  1888,  numbered 
twelve  pupils. 


North  India  ConferencCy  189 2- 1894.  dj 

28.  North  India  Conference,  1892-1894. 

The  twenty-eighth  session  of  the  North  India  Con- 
ference met  at  Cawnpore,  January  6-1 1,  1892,  Bishop 
Thoburn,  presiding.  J.  H.  Gill  was  elected  secretary. 
George  C.  Hewes,  Matthew  Tindale,  William  R.  Clancy, 
and  Homer  C.  Stuntz  were  transferred  into  the  Confer- 
ence, and  Thomas  S.  Johnson,  George  F.  Hopkins, 
Albert  T.  Leonard,  E.  T.  Farnon,  J.  W.  M'Gregor 
were  transferred  to  the  Bengal  Conference.  Brenton  H. 
Badley,  and  F.  H.  Northrop  had  died.  Daniel  Buck, 
Samuel  Philip,  William  T.  Speake,  and  George  C. 
Hewes  were  admitted  on  trial.  Charles  L.  Bare,  Frank 
L.  Neeld,  and  James  C.  Lawson  were  made  super- 
numeraries. Delegates,  lay  and  clerical,  were  elected  to 
the  General  Conference.  E.  W.  Parker  and  J.  W. 
Waugh  were  the  clerical  delegates,  T.  Craven  and  F. 
L.  Neeld  being  alternates.  Rev.  Henry  Mansell,  who 
was  granted  a  location,  and  W.  H.  Daniels  were 
chosen  lay  delegates.  Delegates  were  also  elected  to 
the  Central  Conference.  The  growth  of  the  work  is 
shown  in  the  increase  of  the  Christian  community 
within  four  years  of  22,000  ;  of  Christian  workers,  1,200, 
and  of  the  Sunday-school  as  follows  :  1889,  an  increase 
of  1,543,  of  which  843  were  Christians.  1890,  an  in- 
crease of  3,367,  of  which  1,109  were  Christians.  1891, 
an  increase  of  10,905,  of  which  7,230  were  Christians. 
There  were  now  42,672  scholars  enrolled.  There  were 
serious  questions  growing  out  of  additions  by  the  nu- 
merous baptisms,  and  it  was  recommended  that  bap- 
tism be  refused  where  inquirers  could  not  be  placed 
under  instruction. 

Brenton  Hamline  Badley  was  born  April  27,  1849,  at 


68  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Monmouth,  Ind.,  United  States.  He  was  graduated 
from  Simpson  College,  la.,  1870,  and  from  Garrett 
Biblical  Institute,  1872,  when  he  was  at  once  appointed 
to  India,  having  married  Miss  Mary  A.  Scott  the  same 
year.  Of  his  nineteen  years'  missionary  work,  fifteen 
were  given  to  Lucknow.  The  Christian  College  at 
Lucknow  owes  its  development  as  an  institution,  and 
the  building  it  occupies,  with  the  site  on  which  the 
building  stands,  and  the  site  occupied  by  the  High 
School,  to  Dr.  Badley  more  than  to  all  other  human 
agencies  besides.  After  two  years  of  conflict  with  pul- 
monary disease,  he  let  go  his  hold  on  life  November  20, 
1891.  His  literary  work  alone  would  have  rendered 
his  life  a  successful  one.  His  "  Indian  Missionary 
Directory  "  was  revised  and  continued  through  three 
editions.  His  "  Mela  at  Tulsipur "  gives  a  graphic 
picture  of  Hindu  scenes.  The  literary  titles  of  his 
vernacular  works  are  numerous.  His  was  a  rare  char- 
acter based  on  exceptionally  rich  spiritual  experience. 
He  was  personally  an  inspiration  to  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him. 

Frederick  Hamilton  Northrop  was  born  in  Clinton, 
Wis.,  United  States,  November  27,  i860.  He  arrived 
in  India,  February,  1890,  and  on  July  10,  1891,  died  at 
Agra  of  heat  apoplexy,  having  given  seventeen  months 
of  earnest  work  to  India.  He  was  graduated  from 
Beloit  College  and  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Evans- 
ton,  111. 

Bishop  Thoburn  had,  at  the  Conference  of  1890, 
erected  two  new  presiding  elder's  districts,  Aligarh  and 
Agra.  The  Agra  District,  with  Rev.  J.  E.  Scott  in 
charge,  was,  roughly  speaking,  made  up  of  parts  of  the 
four  civil  districts  of  Agra,  Etah,  Muttra,  and  Aligarh, 


North  India  Conference,  1892-1894.  69 

lying  along  the  Jumna  River,  and  the  regions  about 
Ajmere,  the  capital  of  Rajputana.  It  was  organized  at 
the  last  session  of  the  Conference  by  joining  together 
Agra,  Muttra,  and  Hathras,  with  their  out-stations,  be- 
longing to  the  old  Rohilcund  District  of  the  Nortli 
India  Conference,  and  Ajmere  with  its  out-stations, 
transferred  from  the  Bengal  Conference.  The  city  of 
Agra  rose  to  importance  in  the  time  of  Akbar  the  Great, 
A.  D.  1566,  and  its  monumental  buildings  afford  fasci- 
nating and  instructive  lessons  in  architecture  to  the 
world.     It  contained  now  some  265,000  inhabitants. 

The  work  was  carried  on  from  three  central  stations — 
Agra,  Ajmere,  and  Muttra — each  the  capital  of  a  civil 
district  of  from  eight  hundred  thousand  to  one  million 
souls,  and  the  head-quarters  of  a  missionary  in  charge. 
Connected  with  each  of  these  centers  were  several  sub- 
circuits  with  native  preachers  in  charge.  Under  these 
preachers  in  charge,  again,  were  numerous  local  preach- 
ers, exhorters,  pastor-teachers,  colporteurs,  and  Bible- 
readers,  in  the  surrounding  towns  and  villages,  all  under 
the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  missionary  in 
charge,  who  not  only  worked  his  own  station,  but  itiner- 
ated throughout  the  field. 

There  were  on  the  district  about  thirteen  hundred 
native  Christians,  living  in  about  fifty  towns  and  villages. 
There  were  30  day-schools  with  an  attendance  of  about 
800,  and  50  Sunday-schools  with  1,500  scholars.  Among 
the  workers  of  the  district  were  4  members  of  Confer- 
ence, I  local  deacon,  14  local  preachers,  17  exhorters, 
10  Christian  teachers,  and  19  Bible  readers.  A  Boys' 
Boarding  School  was  maintained  at  Muttra,  and  all  the 
schools  were  directed  by  Christian  teachers;  and  the 
Moody    schools     especially    had    been    successful    ns 


7©  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

evangelistic  agencies.  The  greatest  obstacles  were  the 
poverty  and  ignorance  of  the  people. 

The  other  new  district,  Aligarh,  had  been  in  charge 
of  Rev.  Hassan  Raza  Khan,  and  comprised  the  old 
Kasgunj  Circuit  and  most  of  the  zila  of  Aligarh,  having 
8  circuits  and  a  Christian  community  of  over  3,000, 
living  in  125  villages,  with  45  workers;  1,500  baptisms 
were  recorded  for  the  year. 

The  Amroha  District  was  still  in  charge  of  Rev. 
Zahur-Ul-Haqq,  no  foreign  missionary  residing  within 
its  bounds.  It  had  16  circuits,  and  Christians  living  in 
269  villages  numbered  over  3,000. 

As,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  General  Conference  of 
May,  1892,  created  the  Northwest  India  Conference,  of 
which  an  account  appears  hereafter,  the  statistics  for 
the  North  India  Conference  at  this  juncture  appear  for 
the  last  time  in  their  full  form,  it  is  proper  to  make 
mention  of  some  of  their  principal  features. 

There  were  (1892):  Foreign  members  of  Conference, 
24;  native,  40  ;  local  preachers,  189  ;  total  paid  workers, 
1,986  ;  members,  8,820  ;  probationers,  16,203  ;  Sunday- 
schools,  1,142;  Christian  Sunday-school  scholars,  15,889; 
non-Christian  Sunday  scholars,  26,783;  native  com- 
munity, 32,992  ;  raised  for  ministerial  support,  European, 
8,540  rupees  ;  for  native  preachers,  6,501  rupees  ;  total 
money  collected  in  India,  100,405  rupees  ;  schools,  869  ; 
scholars,  Christians,  9,884  ;  non-Christians,  12,872  ;  con- 
tributed for  Missionary  Society,  1,705  rupees. 

The  twenty-first  session  of  the  Woman's  Conference 
was  held  under  the  presidency  of  Miss  English  in 
Cawnpore,  January  6-11,  1892.  Miss  Harriet  Kemper 
and  Miss  Mary  Bryan,  M.D.,  joined  the  mission  from 
America.     Suitable  reference  was  made  to  the  death   of 


North  India  Conference^  1 892-1 894.  71 

Mrs.  Charlotte  P.  Clancy,  wife  of  Rev.  William  R. 
Clancy,  which  had  occurred  during  the  year;  also  of 
condolence  with  Mrs.  Badley.  in  the  death  of  Dr. 
Badley.  The  Deaconess  Home  in  Muttra  had  become 
the  center  of  a  training-school,  zenana  work,  and  a 
boarding-school,  and  Miss  Kate  M'Dowell  was  in 
charge  of  the  Zenana  Medical  Mission  Dispensary, 
ivhich  entered  a  new  building  July  i,  1891.  The 
Medical  Home  at  Agra  reported  an  increased  number 
of  students.  The  report  of  the  Girls'  Orphanage  and 
Boarding  School  at  Paori,  in  Gurhwal  Province,  re- 
viewed the  work  for  eighteen  years  since  its  beginning. 
The  census  report  now  showed  207,000  women  in  the 
province,  less  than  100  of  whom  were  able  to  read. 
All  but  about  one  dozen  of  this  hundred  had  been 
taught  in  this  school.  There  were  30  intelligent  native 
Bible-women  doing  evangelistic  work  as  Bible-readers, 
teachers,  and  preachers'  wives  who  had  received  their 
training  here,  besides  many  others  working  in  other 
places.  Since  the  beginning  (1868)  178  girls  had  been 
in  the  school  as  boarders  ;  there  were  60  at  present. 
These  had  not  all  been  orphans,  some  being  Christian 
girls  and  daughters  of  village  Christians. 

The  twenty-ninth  session  of  the  Conference  was  held 
at  Bareilly,  January  11-16,  1893,  Bishop  Thoburn,  pre- 
siding ;  W.  A.  Mansell,  secretary.  John  W.  Robinson 
was  transferred  from  Des  Moines  Conference.  Henry 
Mansell  was  re-admitted.  R.  Hoskins,  J.  E.  Newsom, 
Chunni  Lai,  W.  R.  Clancy,  J.  E.  Scott,  Malibub  Khan, 
James  Lyon,  Isa  Das,  Hasan  Raza  Khan,  Daniel  Buck, 
Mohan  Lai,  Cliarles  Luke,  Tafazzal  Haqq,  Henry 
Mansell,  James  C.  Lawson,  and  Chimman  Lai  were 
transferred  to  the  North-west  India  Conference.    Bishop 


72  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Mallalieu  was  present,  and  was  welcomed  as  a  visitor 
by  the  Conference.  The  General  Conference,  May, 
1892,  erected  the  North-west  India  Conference,  trans- 
ferring a  large  section  of  the  work  of  the  North  India 
Conference  to  the  newly-created  North-west  Confer- 
ence. Out  of  a  total  of  33,000  of  a  Hindustani  Christian 
community  in  the  North  India  Conference,  7,800,  or  ap- 
proximately one  fourth,  had  gone  to  the  North-west 
India  Conference. 

The  Conference  now  recorded :  Conference  members 
— European,  61;  native,  18;  local  preachers,  173;  total 
paid  workers,  1,511.  Membership — probationers,  15,153; 
full  members,  10,660  ;  native  Christian  community, 
32,512.  Sunday-schools,  982  ;  Christian  schools,  16,093  '> 
non-Christian  schools,  2 1,854 ;  Boys'  Vernacular  Schools, 
443;  Girls' Vernacular,  228;  English  and  Anglo- Ver- 
nacular, boys',  27  ;  girls',  10.  Scholars:  Christian  boys, 
6,911;  girls,  2,917;  total  scholars,  18,952.  Collections:  for 
the  Missionary  Society,  1,506  rupees  ;  Children's  Day, 
434  rupees  ;  ministerial  support,  from  Europeans,  4,922 
rupees,  from  natives,  3,411  rupees;  total  collected  in 
India,  93,664  rupees. 

The  Methodist  Church  has  ever  had  an  interest  with 
others  in  penetrating  Tibet,  the  only  land  now  con- 
sidered inaccessible  to  Christian  evangelism.  The 
eastern  approaches  to  this  secluded  country  were  oc- 
cupied by  the  Methodist  mission  in  West  China,  where 
Tibetans  are  found  in  large  numbers.  The  Moravians 
have  been  at  the  gates  of  Tibet  in  British  Lahoul  for 
many  years.  The  Methodist  missions  of  the  Himala- 
yas touch  the  lines  of  approach  through  the  passes  on 
the  south,  and  the  missionaries  had  tried  to  accom- 
plish something  through  the  "buffer"  races,  which  trade 


North  India  Conference^  189  2- 1894.  73 

between  Tibet  and  India.  These  are  Bhotiyas.  An  at- 
tempt was  now  made  to  do  something  more  among 
these  people.  H.  K.  Wilson,  M.D.,  native  missionary  in 
eastern  Kumaon,  went,  April,  1892,  as  an  evangelist  to 
Bhot  and  took  up  his  abode,  eight  days'  march  north  of 
Pithoragarh,  where  he  opened  a  dispensary,  treated 
3,200  patients,  and  established  a  day  school  of  twenty- 
five  pupils,  far  away  among  the  snows  of  the  Himalayas. 
Mr.  W.  E.  Blackstone,  of  Oak  Park,  111.,  furnished  the 
money  to  begin  this  mission  among  the  Bhotiyas,  hoping 
thus  that  the  Gospel  might  penetrate  Tibet. 

The  twenty-second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Woman's 
Society  met  in  Bareilly,  January  11-16,  1893,  Mrs. 
Monroe,  president.  Miss  Elizabeth  Hoge  and  Miss  Ada 
J.  Lauck  arrived  from  America.  A  Board  of  Education 
to  co-operate  with  the  Boards  of  Education  of  the  Annual 
Conferences  was  now  established  to  care  for  questions  per- 
taining to  all  interests  of  the  woman's  institutions.  Miss 
Margaret  E.  Layton  died  of  cholera,  April  22,  1892,  at 
Cawnpore  after  a  few  hours  of  intense  suffering.  A 
beautiful  tribute  to  her  devotion  and  influence  was  placed 
on  record.  As  the  boundaries  of  the  North  India  Con- 
ference were  changed  this  year  by  the  erection  of  the 
North-west  India  Conference,  a  few  statistics  are  in 
order  as  a  matter  of  record,  viz.:  Number  of  day-schools, 
208  ;  native  Christian  teachers,  134  ;  pupils  in  village 
schools,  1,650  ;  pupils  in  city  schools,  1,821  ;  pupils 
in  vernacular  boarding-schools,  974  ;  in  Orphanages, 
215  ;  in  English  schools,  226  ;  Sunday-school  scholars, 
5>597-  They  were  systematically  visiting  6,581  zenana 
homes,  and  had  treated  in  their  dispensaries  this  year 
6,742  patients.  There  were  11  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Societies'  missionaries  in  charge  of  the  work. 


74  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  North  India  Conference  convened  for  its  thir- 
tieth session  in  the  Hindustani  Church,  Lucknovv,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1894,  Bishop  Thoburn,  presiding.  David  Lyle 
Thoburn  was  transferred  from  the  Central  Ohio  Confer- 
ence and  ordained  under  the  missionary  rule.  Eight 
persons  were  received  on  trial  ;  twenty-seven  were  or- 
dained deacons,  and  six  elders.  Charles  L.  Bare, 
Peachy  T.  Wilson,  and  Frank  W.  Foote  were  entered  as 
supernumeraries.  Mr.  Bare  and  Mr.  Foote  had  returned 
to  America.  Mr.  Foote  had  accomplished  a  good  work 
in  the  Memorial  High  School  at  Cawnpore  and  at  the 
Nynee  Tal  High  School.  The  Conference  passed  a  reso- 
lution expressing  regret  that  the  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary, Dr.  J.  O.  Peck,  had  been  detained  from  his  in- 
tended visit  to  India.  Delegates  were  elected  to  the 
Central  Conference. 

The  Conference  greeted  Mrs.  Keen,  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  who  was  present,  accom- 
panied by  her  daughter.  Mrs.  Keen  had  been  officially 
designated  by  her  Society  to  visit  the  mission.  Bishop 
Thoburn  had  felt  obliged  to  leave  the  work  in  India 
and  return  to  America  to  help  raise  moneys  to  meet 
special  exigencies  arising  in  the  field,  and  was  again 
about  to  leave  India  for  the  same  purpose  for  a  time. 
The  Conference  expressed  its  regret  at  this  necessitated 
absence  of  their  chief  and  leader,  but  pledged  themselves 
to  endeavor  to  take  care  of  the  work  in  India  to  their 
best  ability  while  Bishop  Thoburn  was  absent  on  this 
special  mission. 

The  twenty-third  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Woman's 
Society  occurred  in  Lucknow,  January  3-8,  1894,  Mrs.  J. 
F.  Keen,  Corresponding    Secretary   of   the  Philadelphia 


North-west  India  Conference.  75 

Branch  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  be- 
ing present,  consented  to  preside  at  the  session.  Miss 
Kate  M'Gregor,  M.D.,  had  arrived  from  America  to  re- 
enforce  the  workers.  The  starting  of  a  medical  class 
for  women  in  Bareilly  was  ordered,  from  which  the  best 
students  were  to  be  selected  to  be  sent  to  the  Medical 
College  at  Agra. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Woman's  Annual 
Meeting  and  the  work  under  it  was  not  alone  that  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  The  enormous 
amount  of  work  accomplished  by  the  wives  of  mission- 
aries, both  before  and  since  the  organization  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  cannot  be  com- 
puted. It  enters  but  little  into  the  general  reports  of  the 
Missionary  Society  in  America,  being  relegated  to  the 
reports  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
hence  this  outline  sketch  is  of  the  work  of  Methodist 
women  for  India  women,  whether  agents  of  the  general 
Missionary  Society,  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary, 
or  of  women  who  joined  the  mission  in  India. 

29.  North-west  India  Conference. 

In  July,  1889,  Bishop  Thoburn  and  Dr.  Parker  made 
a  tour  on  the  west  side  of  the  Ganges,  with  a  view  to  as- 
certaining Avhat  providential  call  might  appear  for  the 
mission  to  extend  its  operations  in  that  region,  especially 
among  those  to  whom  the  converts  on  the  east  side  of 
the  river  were  related.  They  learned  from  reports 
brought  to  them  that  large  numbers  of  the  people  were 
interested  in  Christianity  and  ready  to  forsake  their 
idols.  The  chamars  were  ready  to  become  Christians  in 
large  numbers,  and  as  there  were,  according  to  the  latest 
census  more  than  a  million  of  these  between  the  upper 


76  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Ganges  and  the  Indus,  they  determined  to  commence 
work  in  a  small  way  among  them,  even  their  large  faith 
not  suggesting  what  was  to  be  a  fact,  that  five  years 
thereafter  they  were  to  see  fifteen  thousand  of  these  peo- 
ple brought  into  the  Christian  Church. 

The  obligation  to  press  into  this  new  territory  was 
considered  a  month  later,  at  the  Central  Conference  of 
January,  1892,  and  information  was  received  of  other 
new  openings  far  to  the  south-west  in  the  Nerbudda 
valley,  from  Central  India  between  the  Ganges  and  the 
Jumna,  and  even  in  one  locality  in  Bengal. 

The  General  Conference  of  1892  erected  the  North- 
west India  Conference,  embracing  the  territory  alluded 
to  in  these  excursions.  According  to  that  action  this 
Conference  included  that  portion  of  the  North-west 
Provinces  which  lies  south  and  west  of  the  Ganges,  the 
Punjab,  and  such  parts  of  Rajputana  and  Central  India 
as  lie  north  of  the  twenty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude.  This 
North-west  India  Conference  held  its  first  session 
at  Agra,  January  18-23,  1^93;  Bishop  Thoburn,  presid- 
ing; Bishop  Mallalieu  being  also  present.  The  members 
of  this  Conference  included  within  the  boundaries  as 
constituted  under  the  action  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence were :  Robert  Hoskins,  Philo  M.  Buck,  Jefferson 
E.  Scott,  Dennis  Osborne,  Mahbub  Khan,  Hasan  Raza 
Khan,  Charles  W.  De  Souza,  Albert  T.  Leonard,  Charles 
Luke,  James  Lyon,  John  D.  Webb,  Isa  Das,  Rockwell 
Clancy,  Matthew  Tindale,  Frank  J.  Blewitt,  Claudius 
H.  Plomer,  Edward  S.  Busby,  John  E.  Newsom,  Edwin 
T.  Farnon,  Chunni  Lai,  Daniel  Buck,  Yaqub  Cornelius, 
Joshi  Sumer,  Jhabbu  S.  Joseph,  Edwin  W.  Gay,  Mohan 
Lai.  The  following  were  transferred  from  the  North 
India   Conference  :  Henry  Mansell,  James  C.  Lawson, 


Norih-wcst  India  Conference.  yy 

Chimman  Lai,  and  Tafazzal  Haqq.  The  following  were 
admitted  on  trial :  Ram  Sahai,  John  D.  Ransom,  Tazl 
Haqq,  Ishwari  Pcrshad,  Tazl  Masih,  Taj  Khan. 

Woman's  Conference  :  Mrs,  Tindale,  Miss  M.  Sey- 
mour, Mrs.  Emma  Scott,  Mrs.  Gertrude  F.  Matthews, 
Miss  Brown,  Miss  Phoebe  Rowe,  Mrs.  Lawson,  Mrs. 
Lyon,  Mrs.  De  Souza,  Miss  Clara  A.  Swain,  M.D.,  Mrs. 
Plomer,  Mrs.  Blewitt,  Mrs.  Buck,  Mrs.  Busby,  Mrs. 
Leonard,  Mrs.  Mansell,  M.D.,  Mrs.  Osborne,  Mrs.  Webb, 
Mrs.  Clancy,  Mrs.  Hoskins,  Miss  M'Burnie,  Miss 
Lauck,  Mrs.  Worthington,  Mrs.  Newsom. 

The  Conference,  including  probationers,  now  num- 
bered 37  members  ;  15  deacons  and  15  elders  were 
ordained  on  the  Sabbath.  The  statistics  showed  the 
Conference  to  begin  with :  Church  members,  4,254  ; 
probationers,  10,812;  churches,  19;  parsonages,  10;  Sun- 
day-schools, 449;  Sunday-school  scholars,  17,315; 
pupils  in  day-schools,  5,330  ;  a  Christian  community  of 
20,215,  ^"d  estimated  number  of  inquirers,  35,000. 

The  second  session  of  the  Northwest  Conference  was 
held  January  12-16,  1894,  at  Cawnpore,  Bishop  Thoburn, 
presiding.  J.  T.  Deatker  and  Kallu  Das  and  Cheda  Lai 
were  received  by  transfer.  Frank  J.  Blewitt  was  trans- 
ferred to  South  India  Conference.  A  "Veteran's  Relief 
Association  "  was  organized  for  both  foreign  and  native 
workers.  Complimentary  mention  was  made  of  the  serv- 
ices of  Rev.  J.  W.  Waugh,  D.D.,  as  Treasurer  of  the 
Conference,  now  resigned  ;  also  a  request  that  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  Dr.  J.  O.  Peck  be  delegated  to  visit 
India.  The  Woman's  Conference  held  its  second  An- 
nual Meeting  at  Cawnpore  at  this  time.  Mrs.  Keen,  of 
Philadelphia,  presiding.  Miss  Ruth  A.  Collins,  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  arrived  for  work 


78  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

in  Muttra.  The  Conference  had  few  missionaries  of  tlie 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  the  work  being 
carried  on  in  thirteen  stations  by  married  ladies,  only  two 
stations  having  work  under  single  ladies.  They  specially 
plead  for  more  unmarried  women  for  this  work. 

The  report  on  self-support  was  encouraging.  A  Chris- 
tian population  of  23,122  had  contributed  1,508  rupees  to 
support  of  pastors.  There  were  Sunday-schools,  524,  an 
increase  of  75;  Christian  scholars,  9,408,  increase,  1,393; 
non-Christian  attendants,  21,329;  increase,  4,121. 

The  Ajmere  District  was  an  offshoot  of  the  old  Agra 
District.  It  included  eight  circuits  ;  now  it  had  eleven. 
The  working  of  this  region  as  a  distinct  district  practi- 
cally began  only  nine  months  before,  and  soon  recorded 
one  thousand  baptisms. 

Ajmere,  the  center  of  the  district,  Avas  the  principal  town 
of  British  power  and  influence  in  the  whole  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Rajputana.  The  mission  was  surrounded  by 
twenty-four  native  States,  in  which  were  comprised  not 
a  few  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential,  as  well  as 
ancient,  of  all  India.  The  mission  in  this  place  dated 
back  some  ten  or  eleven  years,  but  from  lack  of  funds 
and  workers  it  made  no  real  advance  until  recently.  In 
the  city  of  Ajmere  itself  there  was  an  English  and  native 
congregation,  both  meeting  in  the  same  worshiping  hall, 
and  being  full  of  interest  and  indications  of  growth. 
The  native  Christian  congregation  had  already  outgrown 
the  limited  space  afforded  by  this  hall.  There  were  in 
Ajmere  two  boarding-schools,  both  of  which  had  been 
very  greatly  helped  by  the  recent  purchaseof  a  most  de- 
sirable property  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  and  both  of  which  are  rapidly  growing  in  inter- 
est and  numbers. 


North-west  India  Conference.  79 

There  was  in  Ajmere  a  class  of  students  receiving 
biblical  training  as  workers  in  this  field.  A  few  had  al- 
ready been  drafted  out  to  different  points  in  the  district. 

Clustering  round  Ajmere,  and  properly  belonging  to 
the  Government  district  of  Ajmere,  were  a  number  of  sta- 
tions in  which  the  workers  and  converts  were  found. 
Pushkar,  Bir,  Srinagar,  Kishengarh,  were  principal  among 
these  stations,  and  each  one  important  in  itself  as  a  cen- 
ter for  other  villages  and  towns  untouched  by  any  mis- 
sionary enterprise. 

Pisanganj,  with  its  surrounding  villages  and  subcir- 
cuits,  formed  almost  a  little  district  in  itself. 

Allahabad  District  was  the  newest  in  this  newly-organ- 
ized Conference.  The  entire  territory  embraced  within 
it,  being  south-west  of  the  river  Ganges,  the  boundary 
line  adopted  by  the  Conference,  was  taken  over  from 
the  North  India  Conference  at  the  recent  revision  of 
Conference  boundaries.  The  district  comprised  but 
four  circuits;  it  included,  however,  the  two  most  in- 
fluential centers  in  the  North-west  Provinces,  at  each  of 
which  there  v/ere  prosperous  English  and  Hindustani 
Churches  and  valuable  property.  Around  these  centers 
the  country  teemed  with  populous  cities  and  towns,  and 
the  work  is  steadily  penetrating  these  outlying  regions. 

Bulandshahr  District  had  been  embraced  in  Amroha 
District,  North  India  Conference.  It  had  10  circuits  and  a 
Christian  community  of  4, 169;  1,620  having  been  baptized 
this  year.  Kasgunj  District  had  6,103  Christians  living 
in  350  different  places. 

Meerut  District  lay  mainly  between  the  rivers  Ganges 
and  Jumna,  about  60  miles  wide  by  125  long;  the  popu- 
lation was  about  600,000.  There  were  76  mission  native 
agents,  and  1,675  baptisms  within  the  Conference  year. 


So  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Mussoorie  District  had  but  five  circuits,  with  English 
Churches  at  Mussoorie,  Roorkee,  Deobund,  Patiala,  and 
Lahore.  The  Philander  Smith  Institute  passed  its 
whole  class  at  the  entrance  examination  of  the  Allaha- 
bad University. 

30.  Great  Evangelistic  Development,  1888-1893. 

The  Indian  social  organization  is  peculiar.  Partly 
from  religious  causes,  partly  from  successive  waves  of 
immigration,  and  partly  from  a  highly  artificial  eco- 
nomic division  of  labor,  there  exist  great  class  divi- 
sions of  society.  The  social  league  rests  on  caste, 
which  has  its  roots  deep  down  in  race  elements.  The 
Brahmins  are  the  "  twice-born  "  highest  caste.  The  civil 
and  military  rulers  are  the  Kshatriyas.  The  class  who 
till  and  trade  are  the  Vaishyas.  Artisans  and  day  labor- 
ers are  Sudras.  Below  these  are  the  outcastes,  with  non- 
Aryan  blood  currents  in  their  veins.  Religiously  all 
the  four  castes  are  of  divine  origin,  though  with  degrees 
of  dignity.  These  castes  are  subdivided  into  hundreds 
of  other  castes.  In  the  course  of  time  it  has  come  to 
pass  that  the  outcastes  have  fallen  into  social  class 
divisions  among  themselves,  the  classification  for  the 
most  part  following  the  lines  of  division  of  labor,  such 
as  chamars,  or  leather-workers  ;  mahtars,  or  sweepers, 
and  so  forth.  As  they  are  survivals  of  the  most  primi- 
tive races  who  immigrated  from  Central  Asia  into  India 
they  are  sometimes  spoken  of  as  "  Aboriginal  Tribes," 
though  that  term  is  still  somewhat  more  comprehensive, 
including  whole  tribes  which  are  absolutely  segregated 
from  the  Hindu  community,  and  some  from  the  influences 
of  Hinduism,  either  social  or  religious. 

In  Bengal  this  general  segment  of  population  is  spoken 


Great  Evangelistic  Development^  1888-1893.         81 

of  as  Naina-Sudra,  or  below  the  Sudra,  the  term  Sudra 
being  that  of  the  lowest  recognized  class  which  is  a 
component  part  of  the  Hindu  social  order.  In  the  Bom- 
bay census  report  of  1882  they  were  catalogued  as  "De- 
pressed Classes,"  and  a  not  wholly  inapplicable  designa- 
tion might  be  the  submerged  sixth  of  India's  population. 
They  are  in  a  sense  serfs,  in  some  cases,  however,  being 
quite  independent,  in  others  occupying  a  position  of 
mild  slavery.  For  centuries  tliey  have  been  one  and  all 
subordinated  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  great  social 
system  of  the  Hindus,  and  politically  have  exerted  no 
power.  They  are  not  Hindus,  yet  are  sometimes  spoken 
of  as  such,  though  their  religious  teachers  and  their  gods 
are  wholly  outside  the  Brahminic  system. 

They  are  found  in  all  parts  of  India,  as  individuals 
or  in  small  communities,  in  wards  of  towns  and  villages, 
or  in  separated  districts.  In  North  India  and  in  the 
Nerbudda  valley  they  follow  various  occupations,  as 
farmers,  weavers,  shoemakers,  village  watchmen,  day 
laborers,  coolies,  or  personal  servants  to  richer  Hindus 
and  Europeans.  The  English  Government  has  released 
them  from  all  technical  legal  relations  to  others  that 
would  imply  a  condition  of  depression,  but  by  usage  of 
centuries  they  are  still  a  submerged  community. 

Many  of  these  are  slowly  awakening  to  the  recognition 
of  their  altered  relation,  and  gradually  asserting  their  in- 
dependence, exhibiting  a  disposition  to  advance  their 
culture  and  condition.  They  have  never  been  edu- 
cated, and  are  as  a  whole  positively  illiterate,  few  of 
them  having  learned  to  read  or  write.  Sir  William 
Hunter  estimates  them  as  numbering  fifty  millions.  As 
the  British  Government  opens  to  them,  in  common  with 
every  other  subject  of  the  empire,  all  avenues,  and  they 


82  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

are  not  hampered  as  others  with  pride  and  traditions, 
if  they  should,  as  they  have  already  done  in  a  small  way, 
make  a  general  use  of  these  opportunities,  India  would, 
in  a  sense,  be  turned  "  bottom  side  up."  Sir  William 
Hunter  says  within  the  next  fifty  years  these  fifty  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  will  incorporate  themselves  into 
one  or  other  of  the  higher  faiths,  and  adds,  "  Speaking 
humanly,  it  rests  with  Christian  missionaries  in  India, 
whether  a  great  proportion  of  these  fifty  millions  shall 
accept  Christianity,  Hinduism,  or  Islam."  It  is  among 
these  non-caste  peoples  that  Mohammedanism  has  made 
advance  in  Bengal,  and  from  them  come  the  followers 
of  Kabir  and  Nanak  in  Northern  India.  They  are  in 
many  portions  of  the  country  accessible  to  Christian  in- 
fluences. The  great  revivals  in  the  Telugu  and  other 
missions  in  Southern  India  were  among  such  non-caste 
peoples. 

Very  soon  after  the  Methodist  Mission  was  begun  in 
Moradabad  several  persons  came  to  the  missionary 
there,  delegated  by  their  people  to  secure  a  Christian 
teacher  to  instruct  them  in  Christianity,  of  which  they 
had  heard  something  at  a  religious  fair.  These  people 
lived  about  twenty  miles  from  Moradabad  city.  A 
teacher  was  sent.  Later  a  religious  teacher  among  the 
chamars  (leather-dressers),  who  had  been  converted  in 
the  Church  of  England  Mission  beyond  the  Ganges, 
was  employed  to  teach  these  old  disciples  of  his  in 
Christianity.  As  a  few  lads  learned  to  read  they  were 
sent  to  Moradabad  for  further  instruction,  and  soon 
there  were  fifty  chamar  boys  there  being  trained,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  for  Christian  leadership  among  their  own 
people. 

Very  early  in  the  history  of  the  mission  another  low- 


Great  Evangelistic  Development,  188^-1893.         ^3 

caste  people  in  the  Budaon  District  moved  in  the  same 
direction.  As  early  as  1879,  the  Bairagis,  as  a  body, 
seemed  ready  to  turn  to  Christianity,  but  being  a  priestly 
class  they  would  lose  their  means  of  support,  and  they 
could  not  see  what  to  do.  The  sweeper  caste,  however, 
continued  to  turn  to  this  new  way,  and  were  rising  in 
the  social  scale.  Men,  who  ten  years  before  dared  not 
enter  the  presence  of  the  Zemindar  (land-owner), 
were  now  cordially  invited  in  ;  four  converted  sweepers 
became  themselves  landed  proprietors. 

In  1880  a  number  of  the  sweeper  caste  were  baptized 
at  Aonla,  who  bravely  withstood  the  persecution  which 
followed  this  act.  The  police  treated  them  as  thieves, 
and  arrested  them  whenever  any  theft  occurred,  no  mat- 
ter by  whom  committed,  confining  them,  beating  them, 
and  sometimes  burning  their  houses.  At  Bilsi  the 
chamars  of  four  localities  gave  excellent  attention  to 
the  word.  In  Budaon  they  sent  their  cliildren  to  the 
schools.  The  Bairagis  and  Thakurs  followed  more 
slowly,  and  the  Christian  sweepers  began  separating 
from  their  unbaptized  relatives.  There  were  now 
Christians  residing  in  sixteen  villages  about  Krakala. 

In  18S1  tokens  of  a  very  extended  movement  of  en- 
tire castes  toward  Christianity  were  observed,  where  some 
of  the  members  of  the  circle  had  already  become  Chris- 
tians. This  meant  much  when  it  was  estimated  that 
there  were  half  a  million  chamars  in  the  Rohilcund 
District  alone.  The  missionaries  became  confident  that 
faithful  pursuit  of  the  lines  on  which  they  had  thus  far 
conducted  their  work  would  result,  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  of  many  thousands  turning  to  the  Christian 
religion. 

Another  illustration  of  the  variety  of  these  non-caste 


84  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

communities  is  furnished  in  the  report  of  an  outlying 
district  of  Shahjelianpore  in  1886,  known  as  followers 
of  Rae  Dass,  an  ancient  bard  or  prince.  These  were  not 
idolaters  ;  no  idol  or  temple  was  found  among  them  ; 
all  belief  in  devatas  (gods)  was  rejected.  They  made 
no  pilgrimage  to  sacred  shrines.  Their  worship  con- 
sisted in  gathering  round  the  village  fire  and  singing 
bhajans  (native  hymns  with  native  tunes),  accompanied 
by  a  simple  stringed  instrument,  in  honor  of  Parmeshwar 
(the  Supreme  Being).  These  were  free  from  the  sensual 
doggerel  common  to  native  songs.  These  people  were 
not  generally  easy  to  influence,  but  they  consented  to 
become  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  report  of  1886  the  missionaries  said  :  "  The 
statement  made  last  year  that  the  day  when  we  should 
expect  great  things  has  fully  come,  has  already  been 
realized.  In  tlie  north  of  Gondah  District  five  hundred 
and  sixty  persons  in  one  neighborhood  received  baptism 
within  one  week.  There  has  been  no  such  work  as  this 
in  the  history  of  the  mission ;  this,  however,  is  but  the 
beginning  of  what  we  may  soon  expect.  God  is  won- 
derfully preparing  his  servants  as  well  as  the  people  for 
the  day  of  his  power  in  this  empire.  The  interest  in 
Sunday-school  work  continues  to  increase,  which  work 
is  quietly  but  powerfully  moving  the  masses.  Preach- 
ers are  coming  forward  both  from  among  the  Hindus 
and  Mohammedans,  not  to  preach  their  own  religion, 
but  against  the  Christian  religion,  which  shows  that  in 
their  estimation  their  systems  are  in  danger." 

The  work  in  the  North  Gonda  District,  under  Rev. 
Samuel  Knowles,  was  among  the  Tharu  peoples,  a  rem- 
nant of  the  aboriginal  race-wave  at  the  foot  of  the  Him- 
alaya Mountains,  north  of  Lucknow.    These  people  were 


Great  Evangelistic  Development,  1 888-1 893.        85 

not  learned  enough  to  institute  any  literary  compatisons 
between  the  several  religions  of  the  country,  but  they 
quite  understood  themselves.  They  gave  among  the 
reasons  that  controlled  them,  such  as  these  :  "  i.  We 
are  saved  from  idol-worship,  and  many  of  its  customs 
which  we  know  are  bad.  2.  This  religion  worships  God, 
and  we  find  a  Saviour  of  man  here.  3.  Those  of  us 
who  have  become  Christians  have  been  benefited  and 
elevated  in  every  way."  The  greater  development  of 
this  work,  dating  from  1888,  rested  on  the  foundation  of 
thirty  years  of  careful  and  gradual  growth.  The  larger 
number  of  converts  in  the  mission  were  from  this  class 
from  the  beginning,  and  Dr.  Parker,  at  the  Decennial  Mis- 
sionary Conference  in  Bombay,  1893,  gave  the  following 
statistics  of  the  growth  of  this  work:  In  1859  there  were 
two  native  preachers,  5  communicants,  8  Christian  boys 
in  the  schools,  and  no  baptisms  ;  in  1868  there  were  30 
native  preachers,  665  communicants,  297  Christian  boys 
and  168  Christian  girls  in  school,  and  187  were  baptized 
that  year  ;  in  1878  there  were  73  native  preachers,  2,526 
communicants,  424  Christian  boys  and  715  Christian 
girls  in  school,  and  787  baptisms  that  year  ;  in  1888 
there  were  168  native  preachers,  7,944  communicants, 
2,027  Christian  boys  and  1,327  Christian  girls  in  school, 
and  1,958  baptisms  that  year,  with  some  400  Christian 
teachers  in  the  school.  By  this  date  many  of  the  chil- 
dren in  the  schools  had  been  converted,  and  a  very 
general  interest  was  taken  in  the  Christian  religion. 
The  work  extended  outside  the  boundaries  of  the  Con- 
ference, and  there  were  some  five  hundred  villages  in 
which  native  Christians  resided,  and  some  two  hundred 
centers  of  work  with  schools,  pastors,  and  more  than 
three  thousand  Christian  children.     It  was  not  surpris- 


86  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ing  that  with  a  spiritual  baptism  there  should  develop 
in  this  section  an  active  evangelistic  "  forward  move- 
ment "  of  the  native  Church.  Yet  Bishop  Thoburn  de- 
clared that  the  statistical  returns  of  1888  "  surprised, 
and  even  startled,  some  of  the  missionaries  ^vho  Avere  en- 
gaged in  this  work,  as  it  then  became  evident  that  a 
steady  movement  had  set  in,  and  that  not  only  more 
converts  had  been  baptized  during  the  previous  year 
than  ever  before,  but  that  the  number  of  inquirers  had 
more  than  doubled." 

Dr.  Parker,  at  the  Decennial  Conference  (1893)  al- 
luded to,  gave  the  following  statement  :  "  This  advance 
movement  that  has  taken  place  since  1888,  caused  by  a 
deeper  interest  and  more  earnest  zeal,  born,  as  we  be- 
lieve, of  the  constraining  love  of  Christ  and  love  for 
souls  in  all  our  preachers  and  converts,  has  brought 
forth  greater  results,  so  that  at  the  end  of  1891  our  sta- 
tistics show  261  native  preachers  licensed  as  preachers, 
381  exhorters  or  preachers  of  a  lower  grade,  and  736 
Christian  teachers,  male  and  female  ;  about  600  schools 
for  Christians  and  inquirers,  with  10,261  Christian  young 
people  and  Christian  children,  and  at  least  5,000  chil- 
dren of  inquirers  in  these  schools,  making  more  than 
15,000  children  on  the  Christian  side.  The  number  of 
regularly  received  members  in  the  Church  was  9,487, 
with  16,913  baptized  probationers,  and  many  thousands 
of  inquirers.  We  had  1,164  Sunday-schools,  45,531 
pupils,  and  a  Christian  community  of  36,055,  living  in 
more  than  a  thousand  towns  and  villages.  The  acces- 
sions by  baptisms  during  1891  were  17,038,  including 
children.  During  1892  the  accessions  were  quite  as 
many  as  in  the  previous  year ;  so  that  the  Christian 
community  at  this  date  is  something  over  50,000.     Our 


Great  Evangelistic  Det'eloptnent,  1888- 1893.         87 

most  encouraging  success,  perhaps,  is  in  the  large  num- 
ber of  native  workers  who  have  been  raised  up  in  this 
work  and  who  are,  as  a  rule,  men  and  women  devoted  to 
their  work  and  happy  and  enthusiastic  in  it,  believing 
that  they  are  called  and  separated  to  it  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Hence  there  is  almost  perfect  harmony  between 
the  different  grades  of  Hindustani  workers,  and  between 
them  and  the  foreigners.  As  they  rise  in  grade  they 
have  equal  rights  with  us  in  all  the  councils,  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  financial,  of  the  Church,  and  they  have  borne  the 
responsibility  well.  No  fixed  scale  of  salary  prevails 
among  us,  but  a  committee,  made  up  of  both  natives  and 
foreigners,  fixes  the  salaries  of  all  workers,  European  or 
Hindustani,  who  join  us  in  India.  Next  to  the  encour- 
aging success  shown  in  these  preachers,  teachers,  etc., 
our  most  encouraging  success  is  found  in  our  large 
number  of  intelligent  Christian  young  people.  These  in 
all  our  principal  stations  have  their  '  Epworth  Leagues  ' 
for  mental  and  spiritual  improvement,  and  they  do  much 
voluntary  work  by  singing  and  witnessing  for  Christ. 
The  15,000  Christians  and  inquirers  in  our  schools  form 
no  mean  company  from  which  to  recruit  an  aggressive 
self-supporting  Church  in  the  near  future.  We  believe 
that  we  realize  something  of  the  responsibility  of  gath- 
ering in  such  large  numbers  ;  and  with  our  large  army 
of  workers  we  are  doing  the  best  we  can  to  care  for 
them.  Our  object  is  not  baptisms,  but  the  salvation  of 
the  people,  and  we  try  to  be  careful  in  using  this  sign 
wisely,  though  mistakes  may  have  been  made." 

Beyond  the  original  mission  bounds  these  people  were 
settled  in  more  than  a  thousand  villages,  mainly  up 
along  the  Ganges  and  Jumna  Rivers  from  Allahabad  to 
Delhi.     The  great  centers  of  the  work  in  this  section,  in 


88  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

1893,  were  Meerut,  Aligarh,  Muttra,  Kasgunj,  and  Bu- 
landshahr.  These  people  may  have  had  more  or  less 
of  thought  of  their  worldly  advantage  in  turning  to 
Christianity,  but  surely  there  was  here  a  jxart  of  the 
"noble  army  "  who  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  for 
Christ's  sake.  Here  were  those  who  had  gone  to  prison 
under  false  accusations,  persecuted  for  righteousness' 
sake  ;  some  were  beaten  with  many  stripes;  parents  lost 
children  and  children  parents ;  husbands  lost  wives 
and  wives  husbands;  cultivators  were  turned  out  of  their 
fields,  policemen  upon  becoming  Christians  lost  their 
positions,  and  village  watchmen  their  hereditary  em- 
ployment. Dr.  J.  E.  Scott  said  that  he  saw  one  man 
killed  outright,  and  five  Christian  villagers,  with  tlie 
blood  streaming  down  their  faces,  beaten  out  of  sheer 
religious  animosity.  But  the  number  continued  to  in- 
crease, and  many  rose  rapidly  in  social  position. 

The  head  master  of  the  Moradabad  High  School  was 
from  this  non-caste  community ;  so  were  some  of  the 
leading  graduates  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Men 
who,  but  a  few  years  before,  were  "driving  conservancy 
carts  or  sweeping  streets"  were  now  acceptable  preach- 
ers of  the  Gospel. 

The  mission  was  in  less  danger  of  misplacing  con- 
fidence in  this  activity,  because  they  had  carefully 
trained  the  generation  of  native  Christians  on  whom  this 
movement  had  its  foundation.  As  early  as  1881  the 
mission  recognized  that,  as  the  work  progressed  among 
these  suppressed  people  in  Bijnour,  Moradabad,  and 
Budaon  Districts,  the  demand  would  increase  for  schools 
of  a  primary  grade  among  them.«  The  people  tliernselves 
were  asking  for  these  schools.  Dr.  Parker,  Presiding 
Elder  of  Rohilcund  District,  thought  schools  could  be 


Great  Evaiigclislic  Development^  1 888-1 893.         89 

establislKd  for  necessary  primary  instruction  at  an  annual 
cost  of  fifty-six  dollars  each,  and  that  an  endowment  of 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  would  sustain  a  good  cen- 
tral high-school  and  one  hundred  primary  schools,  from 
which  the  most  promising  pupils  could  be  selected  and 
transferred  for  furthei'  instruction  ;  or  that  one  hundred 
l)riinary  schools  could  be  established  if  some  one  would 
give  thirty-six  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  this  purpose. 

Rev.  J.  F.  Gouchcr,  D.IX,  of  Baltimore,  responded  to 
this  opporunity,  and  initiated  what  were  soon  known  as 
the  "  Goucher  Schools."  These  were  primary  schools 
by  Dr.  Goucher's  contributions,  which  were  continued 
till  they  were  established  in  many  villages  widely  distrib- 
uted over  the  Conference.  Mr.  Frey,  of  Baltimore, 
joined  Dr.  Goucher  in  this  movement  in  Lucknovv  and 
other  districts  in  Oudli,  and  at  his  death  endowed  sev- 
enteen scholarships  in  Barcilly  Theological  Seminary  to 
train  preachers  from  and  for  these  multitudes  turning  to 
Christ.  The  Goucher  and  Frey  Schools  are  mentioned 
through  all  the  reports  of  the  work  from  18S3  to  1893. 

Still  another  feature  of  this  careful  supervision  was 
the  selection  as  teachers  in  these  schools  of  men  com- 
petent to  be  pastors  to  the  people.  Thus  originated  a 
growing  and  important  class  of  pastor-teachers. 

When  Bishop  Thoburn  arrived  in  America  in  1890  to 
endeavor  to  secure  relief  from  the  financial  emergency 
of  the  press  in  Calcutta,  he  found  awaiting  him,  as  has 
been  recorded,  an  invitation  to  attend  Mr.  Moody's 
summer  meetings  at  Northfield,  Mass.  He  accepted 
the  call  and  stated  the  nature  of  their  work  and  its  ob- 
stacles in  India,  and  referred  to  what  they  might  do  if 
they  had  sufficient  money  to  employ  a  number  of  these 
pastor-teachers.     At  the  close  of  the  address  Mr.  Moody 


go  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

sprang  to  his  feet  with  the  proposal  that  they  help  that 
work,  and  in  a  few  minutes  three  thousand  dollars  was 
pledged  for  the  support  of  one  hundred  of  these  pastor- 
teachers.  Bishop  Thoburn  said  the  effect  of  this  on  the 
native  community  in  India  was  to  incite  them  to  greater 
effort.  Converts  multiplied,  and  inquirers  came  forward 
until,  in  1891,  they  were  baptizing  fifty  a  day.  These 
little  schools  were  the  center  where  the  teacher  was  often 
the  class-leader,  and  really  the  pastor,  and  sometimes 
also  the  evangelist.  There  was  nothing  new  in  any  part 
of  these  methods,  as  they  were  only  the  extension  of  a 
plan  of  work  adopted  from  the  beginning. 

This  work  was  subjected  to  severe  analysis  and 
open  criticism.  Many  supposed  these  people  would 
turn  away  from  Christianity  as  readily  and  as  rapidly  as 
they  had  turned  toward  it.  "Quick  baptisms"  were 
thought  to  imply  only  baptized  heathen.  The  answer 
to  all  this  was  ready  to  hand.  These  were  people  of  a 
second  generation  of  Christian  instruction.  Christian 
schools,  Sunday-schools,  and  Gospel  instruction  had 
been  maintained  for  thirty  years.  They  were  in  most 
cases,  at  least,  partly  instructed  as  to  what  Christianity 
was,  and  there  was  a  large  class  among  them  who  had 
been  educated  in  the  mission  schools  and  were  suffi- 
ciently advanced  to  become  teachers  for  others.  In 
this  sense  the  work  was  not  a  precipitous  one.  There 
had  been  gradual  preparation,  and  it  was  only  the  exter- 
nal manifestation  that  was,  at  first,  so  sudden  and  so  ex- 
tended. This  reached  to  others  not  thus  trained  or 
instructed,  and  the  missionaries  grew  more  cautious, 
limiting  the  baptisms  to  their  capacity  to  place  the 
neophytes  under  competent  instructors. 

Another  criticism  made  was  that  the  turning  of  these 


Barcilly  Theological  Seminary^  1879- 1894.         91 

low-caste  people  to  Christianity  in  such  numbers  would 
prejudice  the  higher  caste  people  against  becoming 
Christians  ;  but  the  missionaries  were  again  prompt  with 
their  reply,  that  by  far  the  larger  number  of  baptisms  of 
these  upper  classes  had  occurred  where  this  movement 
of  the  lower  classes  was  greatest. 

31.  Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  1879-1894. 

In  1881  the  seminary  was  registered  in  the  registration 
office  of  the  North-west  Provinces  at  Allahabad  by  the 
payment  of  fifty  rupees.  The  effect  of  this  was  equal  to 
incorporation  in  America,  securing  legal  powers  under  a 
Board  of  Trustees.  The  endowment  moneys  owned  by 
the  institution  were  now  invested  in  residences  leased  to 
Europeans  for  five  years.  This  was  a  vexatious  form  of 
security,  but  no  other  could  be  found  which  would  give 
an  equal  amount  of  revenue  for  the  school  fund.  These 
were  leased  to  one  person  on  an  annual  rental  of  5,000 
rupees. 

Dr.  T.  J.  Scott,  who  became  principal  in  1879,  was 
obliged  to  retire  temporarily  to  America  in  18S4-85, 
during  which  time  Rev.  Henry  Mansell,  D.D.,  served 
as  principal.  Mr.  Frey,  of  Baltimore,  who  was  support- 
ing twenty-seven  scholarships  in  the  institution,  having 
died,  this  part  of  the  income  failed,  and  the  number  of 
students  was  necessarily  reduced,  and  a  small  debt  in- 
curred in  maintaining  those  whom  it  was  deemed  un- 
wise to  dismiss.  It  graduated  a  class  of  twelve,  the 
largest  number  as  yet  sent  out  by  the  seminary.  The 
students  had  been  diligent  in  carrying  on  evangelistic 
work  in  seven  wards  of  the  city  of  Bareilly  during  the 
school  year  ;  also  in  adjacent  villages  in  the  cold  season. 
In  1SS5,  ISIr.  Frey's  estate  having  been  settled,  seventeen 


92  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

permanent  scholarships  were  provided  for  from  that 
source — eight  new  houses  for  students  were  erected.  The 
seminary  was  closing  its  thirteenth  year.  Only  two 
or  three  similar  institutions  had  been  attempted  by 
Christians  in  India,  and  these  had  met  with  indifferent 
success. 

In  1 886  Dr.  T.  J.  Scott  resumed  the  responsibilities 
of  principal,  conducting  the  entire  curriculum  as  the 
only  American  teacher.  The  following  year  Rev.  J. 
H.  Messmore  came  to  Dr.  Scott's  aid,  the  first  time  that 
two  Americans  could  be  spared  for  this  work.  The 
students  numbered  37,  the  largest  class  ever  entered. 
Dr.  Messmore  continued  with  Dr.  Scott  in  the  conduct 
of  the  classes  during  18S8,  when  there  were  153  pupils 
in  all,  of  whom  113  were  pursuing  the  regular  three 
years'  course  of  study. 

The  demand  for  both  preachers  and  teachers  was  so 
great  that  the  institution  could  not  turn  out  one  third 
the  number  required.  The  list  of  graduates  included 
one  man  from  Lahore,  five  hundred  miles  away  to  the 
north-west,  and  another  from  Hyderabad,  nearly  a  thou- 
sand miles  to  the  south.  Others  came  from  various 
parts  of  the  country  dependent  largely  on  this  mission 
for  the  Gospel,  containing  forty  millions  of  souls. 

These  students  were  not  all  of  the  lower  class  of  vil- 
lagers, nor  had  all  of  them  become  Christians  without 
serious  opposition  from  heathen  relatives.  An  instance 
is  given  which  will  illustrate  the  persecution  such  as 
came  occasionally  to  these  pupils. 

Rajkishore  Rai,  a  young  Brahmin  from  near  Benares, 
attended  for  a  few  years  the  mission  school  at  Azimgurh. 
He  lived  with  his  uncle,  a  lawyer,  and  a  stanch  religion- 
ist among  the  Hindus.     But  the  young  Brahmin's  mind 


Barcilly  2'hcological  Seminary,  1879-1894.  93 

became  affected  with  doubt  about  idolatry,  under  the 
instruction  received  in  the  mission  school.  His  uncle 
discovered  this,  and  removed  him  from  the  school  and 
sent  him  to  another  city. 

When  it  was  supposed  that  time  and  change  of  sur- 
roundings had  cured  his  doubt  he  was  recalled  and  put 
into  the  school  again.  Time  deepened  his  conviction 
of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  realizing  that  his  liberty 
and  even  life  would  be  endangered  among  his  relatives, 
he  took  a  small  sum  of  money  and  disappeared  from  his 
home,  late  in  the  night,  and  walked  eight  miles  to  a  vil- 
lage, where  he  hired  a  conveyance  which  carried  him 
twenty  miles  further  to  the  railway.  Thence  he  went 
to  Lucknow,  was  baptized,  and  continued  his  studies 
under  Dr.  Badley  in  the  Centennial  High  School. 
After  a  time  he  felt  an  earnest  desire  to  prepare  for  the 
ministry.  This  brought  him  to  the  Theological  School, 
where  he  was  now  finishing  his  second  year,  a  cheery, 
earnest,  open-hearted  young  man  of  fine  promise  for  the 
work.  During  the  past  year  he  had  had  an  adventurous 
and  dangerous  episode  in  an  attempt  to  recover  his  wife. 
According  to  custom,  he  was  married  in  childhood,  and 
in  due  time  his  wife  had  been  brought  to  his  father's  home, 
where  she  was  at  the  time  of  his  flight  to  Lucknow. 
While  pursuing  his  studis  he  received  from  his  father  an 
urgent  invitation  to  come  and  take  away  his  wife,  who 
was  represented  as  desirous  to  join  him  and  become  a 
Christian.  All  this  was  a  trap  to  get  hold  of  him,  as  he 
found  on  making  the  journey  to  his  home,  five  hundred 
miles  away.  He  took  the  precaution  to  secure  the 
company  of  a  friend  just  before  going  to  his  home. 
About  a  hundred  of  his  relatives  and  neighbors  were 
assembled,  and  at  first  all  seemed  pacific  enough.  He 
7 


94  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

was  urged  now  to  return  to  his  people  and  renounce 
Christ.  This  he  refused,  and  on  asking  for  his  wife  an 
attempt  was  made  to  kidnap  and  carry  him  away.  The 
Christian  friend  took  the  precaution  to  sUp  away  and 
hurry  up  the  police  in  time  to  get  him  out  of  their 
hands,  when  he  returned  to  us,  thankful  that  he  had  got 
away  with  his  life.  A  second  attempt  was  made  to  de- 
coy him  into  the  clutches  of  his  relatives.  Several  let- 
ters have  been  received  purporting  to  come  from  his 
wife,  saying  that  she  is  ready  to  join  him  and  that  he 
need  only  come  and  bring  her  away.  The  letters  stated 
that  she  would  take  i:)oison  or  jump  into  a  well  if  her 
calls  were  unheeded.  At  first  Rajkisliore  Rai  was  in- 
clined to  make  a  second  attempt,  but  mature  reflection 
interpreted  the  whole  thing  as  a  new  trap.  This  young 
man  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  for  Christ. 

In  1889  Dr.  Scott  was  supported  by  Rev.  F.  L.  Neeld, 
as  Professor  of  Exegesis,  Ethics,  and  Church  History. 
The  great  revival  which  had  now  begun,  in  which  thou- 
sands were  turning  to  Christ,  made  the  seminary  vastly 
more  important  to  the  general  work.  Bishop  Thoburn, 
in  his  address  before  the  Central  Conference,  in  empha- 
sizing this  emergency,  said  :  "  The  steady  and  some- 
what rapid  growth  of  our  native  membership  has  natur- 
ally created  a  demand  for  an  increased  supply  of  native 
pastors ;  our  theological  school  at  Bareilly  has  become 
more  than  ever  a  necessity  to  our  work,  especially  in  North 
India;  the  present  demand  for  more  anointed  preachers 
of  the  word  in  India  is  more  imperative  than  it  has  ever 
been  before  ;  we  need  a  hundred  men  at  once  to  enter 
the  doors  now  open  before  us."  The  principal,  in  his 
report  for  1889,  said:  "Our  school  has  steady  growth,  but 
the  demand  grows  faster.    Our  present  senior  class  num- 


Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  1879-1894.  95 

bers  thirteen,  and  is  among  the  largest  of  the  classes  sent 
out.  The  junior  class  numbers  twenty-five,  and  is  the 
largest  class  yet  formed.  These  men  are  drawn  from  a 
wide  field.  We  teach  them  in  Hindustani,  but  some  of 
them  come  from  the  borders  of  other  territory,  repre- 
senting numerously-spoken  languages.  This  reveals  a 
wider  scope  of  usefulness  for  this  school,  for  these  men 
can  study  in  the  vernacular  in  which  we  teach  here,  and 
then,  knowing  a  language  reaching  far  beyond  the 
border  from  which  they  came,  they  can  duplicate  the 
influence  of  the  school.  We  can  thus  draw  in  and  train 
men  in  the  Hindustani  who  can  afterward  preach  in 
Mahrati,  or  Bengali,  or  Punjabi,  according  to  the  local- 
ity from  which  such  men  come.  Pressing  calls  are  al- 
ready made  for  such  men.  It  remains  to  be  seen  if  this 
endowment  can  be  pushed  up  so  as  to  meet  the  de- 
manded enlargement.  We  must  have  endowment.  Some 
help  is  coming  in  from  the  United  States  in  the  support 
of  substitutes,"  Many  friends  of  the  institution  edu- 
cated an  unmarried  man,  or  a  man  arni  his  wife. 

Mr.  Neeld  continued  as  professor  during  1890,  and 
in  1891  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Dease,  when  there  were 
sixty-six  students  in  the  theological  department,  twenty- 
three  in  the  normal  department,  and  forty-seven  wives 
of  the  students  under  Mrs.  T.  J.  Scott  in  the  Woman's 
Training  School.  The  pressure  for  preachers  was  so 
great  that  the  Conference  now  ordered  the  organization 
of  classes  in  an  additional  short  course  for  men  who 
might  spend  one  year  in  the  seminary.  A  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  was  also  organized. 

This  year  (1891)  a  lecture  hall,  with  two  large  audi- 
ence rooms,  was  built  in  honor  of  Dr.  Butler,  the 
founder  of  the  mission,  by  contributors  who  raised  $2,000 


96  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

for  the  purpose.  This  was  in  addition  to  Reming- 
ington  Hall,  the  gift  of  Eliphalet  Remington,  Esq.,  of 
Ilion,  N.  Y.,  dedicated  by  Bishop  Andrews  in  1877.  In 
1893  Ernest  Hall,  the  gift  of  Rev.  E.  L.  and  Mrs.  Kip- 
linger,  in  memory  of  their  son  Ernest,  was  opened.  This 
entire  property,  consisting  of  three  buildings,  was  valued 
at  $16,500. 

Two  literary  societies  were  early  established,  and  a 
Library  Fund  was  begun  by  the  gift  of  over  five  thousand 
five  hundred  rupees  by  Hon.  J.  R.  Reid,  Esq.,  Secretary 
to  the  Government  of  the  North-west  Provinces.  More 
than  two  thousand  volumes  in  1892  showed  a  creditable 
beginning  of  this  literary  storehouse.  A  beautiful  and 
spacious  library  hall  was  already  j^rovidcd.  R.  Simp- 
son, Esq.,  Commissioner  of  Rohilcund,  had  made  a  do- 
nation of  two  hundred  rupees  at  an  early  day  for  this 
library,  and  the  Bombay  Tract  Society  and  others  gave 
oriental  and  vernacular  books. 

In  1894  Principal  Scott  and  Professor  Neeld  registered 
two  hundred  and  five  students  who  had  graduated  in  the 
three  years'course,  and  seventy-seven  in  the  partial  course. 

This  was  the  first  Methodist  Theological  School  or- 
ganized in  Asia.  Its  immediate  work  was  educating 
native  ministers  and  their  wives,  instruction  being  given 
in  two  dialects,  through  which  a  hundred  millions  of 
people  might  be  reached. 

The  Woman's  Training  School,  in  connection  with  the 
Theological  Seminary,  a  school  for  training  the  wives 
of  students,  had  been  kept  up  since  1872.  These  women 
were  taught  to  read  and  write  in  Hindi  and  Urdu,  and 
then  take  a  regular  course  of  Bible  study  and  other  sub- 
jects that  prepare  them  to  work  among  the  women  of 
the  land.     This  school  of  unique   character  was  carried 


,|p  ^.y;!!;!,!!!!'     Ji"|(|li((;ll|)|t.l:     ^^Ji'?U|i.]||(' 


0     ,  ;, 

'  ''i.  1 

;  ^  ^l^if^ 

K     .' 

I  "iwi 

P           I,.,: 

;\  'I    d^iM 

-'-               I 

'     '^vm 

w     ^. 

'       ^ 

p 

;'™ 

Bareilly  Theological  Seminary,  1 879-1 894.         99 

on  with  difficulty,  all  the  pupils  being  married  women 
with  children. 

Down  to  1894  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  had  gone 
out  from  it  prepared  to  work  in  villages  or  zenanas,  as 
the  necessity  might  demand.  One  dollar  or  three  rupees 
a  month  was  the  scholarship  each  woman  received  while 
attending  the  school.  Mrs.  Dr.  T.  J,  Scott  had  been  in 
charge  of  this  department  most  of  the  time  from  the  be- 
ginning, now  twenty  years. 

High  School  Normal  Department. — In  1878  a 
normal  department  was  begun  in  connection  with  the 
High  School  and  Seminary,  to  endeavor  to  meet  the  de- 
mand for  Christian  teachers  in  the  numerous  village 
schools,  where  the  village  teacher,  from  the  first,  was 
expected  to  be  lay  evangelist  and  pastor,  as  well  as 
school-master.  The  design  was  to  train  two  grades  of 
these  students,  one  to  take  charge  of  elementary  schools, 
the  other  to  manage  English  schools  of  a  high  class. 
This  normal  department  also  served  as  a  preparatory 
department  to  the  Theological  Seminary.  This  school 
had  varying  fortune. 

In  1880,  thougli  several  students  had  passed  the  Uni- 
versity Entrance  Examination,  it  was  thought  too  expen- 
sive to  maintain  a  staff  for  so  few  pupils,  and  some  of  the 
boys  were  sent  on  scholarships  to  the  Bareilly  Govern- 
ment College.  In  18S1  it  was  resumed,  merely,  however, 
as  a  vernacular  school.  There  were  twenty-one  students 
in  three  classes,  tlie  lowest  pursuing  elementary  studies, 
the  pupils  to  complete  a  two  years'  course  before  admis- 
sion to  "  middle  vernacular  "  studies.  The  pressure  for 
village  teachers  of  low  grade  continued.  In  1884  this 
school  graduated  its  first  class,  all  of  whom  were  applied 
for  as  teachers  in  the  mission. 


lOO  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions 

In  1887  it  graduated  seven  in  "middle  ver^-acular," 
and  sent  out  eight  others  with  second-class  certificates, 
the  best  return  the  school  had  as  yet  made. 

32.  Reid  Christian  College,  Lueknow. 

As  already  indicated  in  volume  second  of  this  history, 
"  The  Centennial  School,"  Lueknow,  was  projected  in 
the  centennial  year  of  American  Methodism,  1866, 
though  little  progress  was  made  in  developing  it  till 
much  later.  In  1867  the  Conference  appointed  a  Board 
of  Trustees,  and  by  1868  they  reported  an  endowment 
fund  of  ten  thousand  rupees.  It  was  not  possible  to 
open  the  school,  owing  to  the  paucity  of  laborers,  al- 
ready overworked.  As  elsewhere  stated,  the  school  was 
opened  February  i,  1877,  under  the  principalship  of  Rev. 
Henry  Mansell,  in  a  small  house  on  the  mission  prem- 
ises, which  had  been  used  as  a  bindery-room  of  the 
Mission  Press.  Several  teachers  were  employed,  and 
classes  were  organized.  The  total  enrollment  of  the 
year  was  forty  pupils.  During  the  five  years,  1878-82, 
under  the  charge  of  Rev.  B.  H.  Badley,  the  school 
advanced  to  the  grade  of  a  high-school  or  seminary, 
matriculating  its  first  class  of  five  students  in  December, 
1882.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Waugh  was  principal  during 
1883-84.  The  total  yearly  attendance  from  the  begin- 
ning was  as  follows:  1877,40;  1878,53;  1879,110; 
1880,  125  ;  1881,  184  ;  1882,  311  ;  1883,  400;  1884,  441. 
In  1885  it  advanced  to  540. 

During  the  first  two  years  only  Christian  students 
were  admitted  ;  but  as  others  desired  to  attend,  and 
were  willing  to  study  the  Bible  and  conform  to  all  the 
regulations  of  the  school,  they  were  enrolled  as  day- 
scholars,  and  Christians   and  non-Christians  were   now 


Reiii  Christian  College,  Liicknow.  10 1 

found  in  all  the  classes.  The  plan  worked  well,  and  it 
was  hoped  that  the  daily  contact  with  Christian  teach- 
ers and  students  would  be  the  means  of  bringing  many 
of  the  others  to  Christ,  and  that  the  institution  would 
thus  become  a  powerful  evangelizing  agency.  The 
Bible  was  a  daily  text-book,  and  in  the  lower  classes  the 
Church  Catechisms  were  taught.  While  the  school  was 
chiefly  intended  for  Christian  boys,  its  projectors  felt 
that  they  were  justified  in  thus  seeking  to  extend  the 
sphere  of  its  helpful  influence. 

The  need  of  such  an  institution  was  seen  in  the  fact 
that  already  the  school  had  drawn  students  from  all 
parts  of  Central  and  North  India,  from  Calcutta,  Alla- 
habad, Cawnpore,  Agra,  Gujrat,  Jeypore,  Moradabad, 
Bareilly,  Shahjehanpore,  Paori,  and  elsewhere. 

The  patronage  of  the  school  was  not  confined  to  the 
Methodist  Church.  Students  in  attendance  represented 
the  Church  of  England,  the  Presbyterian,  United  Pres- 
byterian, Wesleyan,  Baptist,  and  other  Churches.  With- 
in a  circle  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  there  was  no 
other  boarding-school  for  Christian  boys,  though  in  the 
territory  thus  indicated  there  were  several  flourishing 
missions. 

The  institution  soon  made  manifest  that  it  would  ad- 
mirably supplement  the  lower  schools  of  the  mission, 
and  thus  add  to  the  efficiency  and  satisfaction  in  the 
entire  educational  scheme.  It  would  also  train  young 
men  as  teachers,  and  give  some,  entering  the  Theological 
Seminary,  an  opportunity  for  a  collegiate  course. 

In  1883  the  school  found  a  permanent  and  beautiful 
home  on  grounds  adjoining  the  far-famed  Lucknow  Resi- 
dency. The  campus  embraced  seven  acres,  and  an  English 
official  observing  it  pronounced  it "  the  finest  site  in  Luck- 


I02  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

now."  It  was  admirably  adapted  to  school  purposes,  as 
it  was  entirely  removed  from  other  buildings,  and  was  on 
an  elevation  which  rendered  it  a  most  healthful  location. 
May  I,  1883,  the  corner-stone  of  the  high-school  build- 
ing was  laid.  The  new  building,  a  fine  large  brick  edi- 
fice, 64x100  feet,  with  twelve  recitation  rooms  and  a 
large  chapel  was  surmounted  by  a  tower,  sixty  feet 
high,  in  which  were  a  clock  and  bell,  the  first  of  the 
kind  in  this  part  of  India  (Oudh).  The  building  served 
for  Sunday-school  and  lecture  purposes,  and  was  found 
admirably  adapted  to  their  wants.  The  fact  that  the 
Government  of  India  contributed  ^4,500  toward  its 
erection  (about  half  the  cost)  showed  its  good  will  toward 
the  rapidly-growing  school.  The  building  was  first  oc- 
cupied the  first  day  of  November,  1883. 

The  tower  clock  was  purchased  witli  the  proceeds 
from  the  sale  of  "  Residency  Bricks  "  and  India  photo- 
graphs in  America,  supplemented  by  various  donations. 
Half  the  cost  of  the  bell  was  secured  by  Bishop  Bowman, 
and  the  other  half  through  the  efforts  of  Mrs.  Badley,  at 
Topeka  and  elsewhere  in  America. 

Through  the  kind  efforts  of  Bishop  Warren  and  the 
liberality  of  Rev.  J.  Pete,  of  Greenville,  Pa.,  the  school 
became  possessed  of  a  fine  telescope. 

In  1888  the  high-school  was  advanced  to  the  grade  of 
a  college  and  affiliated  to  the  Allahabad  University. 
Under  the  title  "  The  Lucknow  Christian  College,"  it 
Was  opened  July  2  of  that  year.  Dr.  Badley  was  Presi- 
dent, as  he  had  been  Principal  of  the  Centennial  School 
since  1884.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  continued  President 
of  this  institution  till  his  death. 

For  a  long  time  the  city  was  searched  for  a  suitable 
site    for  the  "  Christian    College,"  but   none  could  be 


Reid  Chrisiiati  College,  Liicknow.  1 03 

found.  At  last,  Dr.  Badley  one  day,  looking  across 
from  the  school-house,  said,  with  sudden  inspiration, 
"  I  have  found  the  site  we  want  for  the  college  ! " 
"Where  !"  asked  his  companion.  "There,  just  across 
the  road."  And  strange  to  say,  the  thought  had  never 
come  to  any  of  the  minds  of  those  interested,  that  the 
site  was  just  at  hand.  It  was  the  work  of  much  diplo- 
macy to  gain  the  consent  of  the  Government  to  allow 
that  land,  which  was  a  large  triangle  surrounded  by 
three  public  roads,  to  be  transferred  to  the  mission  for 
the  college,  but  by  patience  and  wisdom  the  work  was 
at  last  accomplished,  and  the  Government  gave  to  the 
mission,  free,  this  large  and  valuable  tract  of  land  imme- 
diately adjoining  their  own  premises,  and  in  close  prox- 
imity to  one  of  the  most  important  thoroughfares  in  the 
city.  A  better  situation  could  not  have  been  chosen 
had  there  been  unlimited  means  at  disposal.  It  was 
clearly  the  hand  of  God  leading  in  the  selection  of  this 
strategic  position.  A  large  tank,  which  one  of  the  old 
kings  had  built  in  the  years  past  on  the  land,  was  their 
only  trial,  as  it  must  be  filled  before  the  land  would  be 
at  all  presentable  in  appearance.  It  was  quite  a  finan- 
cial burden  to  attempt  to  fill  it.  But  even  adding  the 
cost  of  filling  the  tank,  the  land  was  still  a  remarkably 
cheap  investment,  probably  the  cheapest  college  com- 
pound in  the  Church,  considering  its  real  value. 

Upon  securing  the  site  for  the  college,  plans  were  im- 
mediately drawn  for  the  new  building,  and  the  building 
commenced  on  the  i8th  of  March,  1S91.  On  the  6th 
of  August  the  foundation  stone  was  laid  with  appropri- 
ate ceremonies  by  Bishop  Thoburn.  The  splendid 
building,  an  architectural  pride  for  the  whole  Church, 
was  formally  opened  by  the  lieutenant-governor  of  the 


104  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

provinces  on  the  31st  of  October,  1892.  The  chapel 
hall  seated  about  seven  hundred  students,  and  served 
for  daily  chapel  exercises  and  special  addresses  and  ser- 
mons to  the  students. 

The  other  appointments  of  the  building  were  such  as 
should  be  expected  in  a  college,  and  the  whole  building 
with  all  its  furnishings  were  all  paid  for  within  two  years. 
In  1893  there  was  not  a  dollar  of  debt  on  the  college. 

A  word  about  the  course  of  study  taught  may  not  be 
out  of  place  here.  As  may  be  inferred  from  what  has 
been  said  previously,  the  school  was  affiliated  with  a 
Government  university,  which  meant  that  the  course  set 
by  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction  of  the  India 
Government  was  to  be  taught,  tlie  examinations  con- 
ducted only  by  the  Government,  and  all  the  degrees 
conferred  by  it.  While  this  might  be  to  a  certain  de- 
gree a  hindrance,  it  was  a  great  help,  in  that  the  mis- 
sionaries were  not  the  examiners,  and  the  quality  of  the 
work  was  always  judged  by  impartial  standards.  As  it 
received  no  aid  from  tlie  Government  in  the  way  of 
money,  it  was  free  in  the  matter  of  methods  and  to 
impose  extra  work  in  addition  to  the  Government  re- 
quirements, such  as  a  strict  examination  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  course  taught,  which  will  be  seen  to  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  courses  of  colleges  at  home,  in 
1893  was  as  follows  : 

English  literature  :  Critical  study  of  selections  from 
Scott,  Pope,  Macaulay,  Tennyson,  Helps,  Marryat, 
Shakespeare,  Goldsmith,  Milton,  Burke,  Butler,  together 
with  biographies  and  topical  discussions  of  particular 
phases  of  the  development  of  literature. 

Mathematics:  Arithmetic  (completed),  algebra,  through 
quadratics,    geometrical    and    harmonical    progressions, 


Rcid  Christian  College,  Lucknoiv.  1 05 

permutations  and  combinations,  binomial  and  exponen- 
tial theorems.  Geometry,  including  conic  sections,  and 
trigonometry. 

A  classical  language,  which  may  be  Sanskrit,  Arabic, 
Persian,  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  or  French.  The  course 
in  Latin  comprises  Horace,  "  Odes  "  and  "  Epistles  ;  " 
Livy,  "Book  XXI;"  Gicero,  "Amicitia"  and  "  De 
Oratore  ;  "  and  Tacitus,  "Annals." 

Scholarship  endowments  were  sought  for  students  in 
the  college  froi#  an  early  date  in  the  history  of  the  in- 
stitution. 

The  number  of  native  Christians  able  to  support  their 
sons  and  daughters  in  boarding-school  and  college  was 
happily  increasing  from  year  to  year.  For  this  class 
nothing  was  asked  but  sympatliy  and  prayer.  But  in 
the  mission  circles  of  which  Lucknow  is  the  center — 
Oudh  and  Rohilcund,  and  the  adjacent  districts  of  the 
North-west  Provinces — there  were  many  native  Chris- 
tians whose  income  was  so  small  that  it  was  out  of  the 
question  for  tliem  to  support  their  children  in  school. 
It  was  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to  assist  such  people.  The 
aim  was  to  build  up  a  strong,  healthy,  and  intelligent 
native  Church.  Native  Christian  young  men,  well  edu- 
cated, could  command  good  positions  in  Government 
service  and  elsewhere.  There  were  native  preachers, 
catechists,  and  heli)ers,  with  salaries  so  small  that  they 
could  not  educate  their  children;  some  were  laboring 
in  remote  villages  where  there  were  no  schools.  Among 
the  students  who  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  scholarshif^s  in 
1S90  were  2  orphans,  9  sons  of  widows,  and  17  sons  of 
native  preachers  and  helpers. 

Young  men  converted  from  Hinduism  and  Moham- 
medanism constituted  another  class  of  applicants  for  help. 


I06  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

It  often  happened  that  a  missionary  found  a  clever 
Hindu  or  Mohammedan  youth  well  versed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ready  to  be  baptized  and  anxious  to  continue  his 
studies.  The  boarding-house,  open  for  such  converts, 
was  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  work. 
Not  a  year  passed  that  did  not  bring  some  such  candi- 
date. One  came  in  18S5,  a  Brahmin  youth  well  con- 
nected ;  he  broke  his  caste  by  eating  bread  with  two  of 
the  boarders  whom  he  had  known  in  a  mission-school 
two  hundred  miles  away.  He  desired  baptism  and  was 
baptized.  After  remaining  two  years  he  was  sent  to  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Bareilly  ;  and,  although  bitterly 
persecuted  by  his  heathen  relatives,  he  remained  firm. 
Through  his  influence  a  cousin  came  a  year  later;  he 
was  baptized  in  1886,  his  girl  wife  in  1888.  There  were 
now  at  least  seven  in  the  boarding-house  whose  relatives 
were  all  heathen.  Two  had  come  this  year — one  from 
Ayodhya,  the  stronghold  of  Hinduism  ;  the  other  from 
Shahjehanpore,  a  Thakur  youth  recently  baptized.  These 
new  converts,  while  preparing  themselves  for  usefulness 
in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  did  not  forget  their  relatives; 
when  allowed  to  do  so  they  visited  them  in  vacations, 
and  while  they  were  forbidden  to  enter  the  old  home 
they  were  constant  in  their  petitions  to  God  for  the  sal- 
vation of  their  dear  ones.  A  chapter  could  easily  be 
written  on  this  subject. 

The  mission  was  constantly  receiving  calls  for  help 
from  these  various  classes.  The  sum  of  $500  would 
found  a  perpetual  scholarship.  Any  one  sending  $30 
per  year  for  five  years  could  educate  one  student.  A 
plan  was  now  proposed  to  provide  fifty  permanent  and 
fifty  temporary  scholarships  of  1,000  rupees  each,  and 
the  following  permanent   scholarships  were  reported  in 


Reid  Christian  College^  Lucknoiv.  109 

1892  as  having  been  secured:  i.  The  Bishop  Simp- 
son Memorial  Scholarship;  2.  The  Bishop  Wiley  Memo- 
rial Scholarship ;  3.  The  Bishop  Bowman  Scholarship  ; 
4.  The  Bishop  Foster  Scholarship;  5.  The  Bishop  Merrill 
Scholarship  (given  by  Oliver  Allen,  Esq.)  ;  6.  The 
Oliver  Allen  Scholarship;  7.  The  Queen's  Jubilee  Schol- 
arship (collected  in  India)  ;  8.  The  Rev.  Dr.  W.  Butler 
Scholarship  (given  by  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Murphy,  of  Kansas)  ; 
9.  The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Trimble  Scholarship;  10.  The  Rev. 
N.  Gillan  Scholarship;  11.  The  Hon.  Jacob  Sleeper  Me- 
morial Scholarship  (given  by  Mrs.  E.  P.  Dutton,  of  New 
York)  ;  12.  The  Rev.  J.  R.  Downey  Memorial  Scholar- 
ship; 13.  The  Rev.  J.  D.  Brown  Memorial  Scholar- 
ship; 14.  The  Rev.  J.  S.  Inskip  Memorial  Scholarship; 
15.  The  Willie  Brown  Sweet  Scholarship  (given  by  T.  B. 
Sweet,  Esq.,  of  Kansas)  ;  16.  The  Des  Moines  Confer- 
ence Scholarship;  17.  The  Upper  Iowa  Conference 
Scholarship  (given  by  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Brindell,  of  Iowa)  ; 
iS.  The  W^illiam  Osmun  Caldwell  Scholarship. 

No  patron  of  this  institution  in  India  or  elsewhere  had 
been  more  steadfast  in  friendship  to  its  founders,  none 
had  studied  its  interests  more  patiently,  aided  its  entire 
development  more  constantly,  or  been  a  wiser  counselor 
through  more  than  a  score  of  years  than  Rev.  J.  M. 
Reid,  D.D.  An  experienced  educator,  having  for  years 
stood  at  the  head  of  Genesee  College,  at  Lima,  N.  Y., 
when  he  came  to  the  responsibilities  of  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society,  he  naturally  ex- 
hibited intelligent  concern  in  the  judicious  projection 
of  educational  enterprises  in  all  the  foreign  fields  of 
the  Church.  The  Christian  College  of  Lucknow  w-as  a 
special  object  of  his  sympathy  and  solicitude.  No  one 
more  than  he  realized  the  magnitude   of  the  work  nor 


no  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  possible  power  for  Christianity  it  might  be  brought 
to  exert.  He  contributed  to  its  financial  support  the 
proceeds  accruing  to  him  as  author  from  the  sale  of  the 
original  volumes  of  the  "  History  of  Missions  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  and  later,  in  emergen- 
cies peculiar  to  the  development  of  its  new  site  and 
building,  generously  placed  his  personal  gift  of  several 
thousand  of  dollars  at  the  disposal  of  the  Trustees. 

In  the  assignment  of  the  secretarial  duties  of  the 
ofifice,  the  administration  of  the  India  field  was  for  a 
long  term  of  years  in  Dr.  Reid's  hands.  It  was  a  grace- 
ful act,  that  in  seeking  to  recognize  in  some  way  his  in- 
terest in  the  work  in  India,  the  Central  Conference,  rep- 
resenting all  the  Conferences  of  India,  directed  that  the 
institution  at  Lucknow  should  henceforth  bear  his 
honored  name,  and  the  title  was  accordingly  changed  to 
Reid  Christian  College. 

33.  Literary  and  Publishing  Interests. 

When  the  Mission  Press  was  established  in  i860  by 
Dr.  Waugh  general  illiteracy  obtained,  and  the  task 
before  the  mission,  as  the  almost  exclusive  evangelistic 
agency  in  the  territory  which  fell  to  its  care,  of  the  sim- 
ultaneous instruction  of  the  people  in  schools  and  the 
creation  of  a  vernacular  literature,  was  far  greater  than, 
with  their  limited  resources,  they  were  able  to  accom- 
plish. The  Government  system  of  education,  however, 
instituted  immediately  prior  to  the  founding  of  the 
Methodist  mission,  was  after  the  mutiny  put  in  opera- 
tion in  Oudh  and  Rohilcund.  This  rapidly  developed 
a  young  generation  of  readers,  and  a  reading  public 
came  into  existence  far  more  rapidly  than  a  literature 
could  be  produced  suited  to  the  new  conditions.    There 


Literary  and  Pitblishing  I itiercsts.  1  1 1 

was  a  rare  opportunity  for  the  Christian  Church  to  take 
the  initiative  and  on  a  vast  scale  preoccupy  the  ver- 
nacular literary  domain. 

In  a  measure  this  was  sought  to  be  done,  especially 
by  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies  of  Great  Britain  and 
their  local  representative  organizations  in  India.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  mission  at  an  early  day  co-operated, 
on  a  carefully  developed  scheme,  with  these  literary 
agencies  by  a  colporteur  system,  combined  with  the  oper- 
ations of  its  itinerating  evangelists,  the  value  of  which 
has  never  been  appreciated.  To  an  extent  little  realized 
it  caused  this  evangelistic  literature  to  be  disseminated 
throughout  the  remotest  rural  population  of  the  Gangeti^: 
valley  and  far  away  in  Himalayan  hamlets.  The  funds 
for  the  support  of  this  work  were  raised  by  local  contri- 
butions ;  by  mission  appropriations  from  the  Methodist 
Church;  by  the  North  India  Bible  Society,  and  by  the 
National  Bible  Society  of  Scotland.  A  corps  of  special 
agents  was  kept  on  the  field  from  year  to  year,  not 
greatly  varying  in  number  nor  work  from  that  of  1892, 
when  twenty  of  these  agents  reported  having  disposed 
of  137,868  Scripture  tracts  and  books,  from  the  sale  of 
which  1,073  rupees  was  realized.  This  constant  per- 
colation of  the  minds  of  the  people  with  religious  litera- 
ture through  a  quarter  of  a  century  could  not  but  con- 
tribute to  the  general  preparation  of  the  people  for  tlie 
understanding  and  acceptance  of  Christianity.  The 
Methodist  Press  in  Lucknow  was  also  utilized  to  print 
much  of  this  literature  for  the  Religious  Tract  Society  of 
London,  and  the  Superintendent  of  the  Publishing 
House  in  1879  recognized  the  incidental  advantage  this 
gave  them  in  securing  improved  stock  and  larger  patron- 
age for  their  own  prints.     A  Roman  Urdu  "  Concord- 


112  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ance,"  and  "  Joseplius  "  in  Urdu  were  among  the  issues 
of  1879.  The  "  Lucknow  Witness,"  though  not  an  offi- 
cial organ  of  the  mission,  was  printed  liere  during  its 
entire  publication.  Its  influence  was  recognized  in  the 
general  current  of  native  society,  since  its  weekly  mes- 
sages reached  teachers,  editors,  and  lawyers,  and  were 
read  by  Hindus  and  Moslems  as  well  as  Christians.  It 
touched  the  j)ublic  on  both  European  and  Indian  sides, 
official  and  non-official;  its  appeals  interested  persons 
in  various  benevolent  operations,  and  brought  increased 
contributions  for  their  support.  Its  widely  ramifying 
influence  may  be  seen  in  that,  as  early  as  1879,  its  mail- 
ing list  included  160  different  post  offices  in  India  and 
Burma,  besides  incidental  subscription  lists  in  Aden, 
Australia,  Ceylon,  China,  Tasmania,  Great  Britain,  and 
America.  The  Missionary  Society  never  felt  free  to 
support  a  missionary  exclusively  to  edit  this  paper,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  any  missionary  could  have  found  a  more 
influential  station  than  the  editorial  chair  of  this  impor- 
tant literary  agency.  It  continued  to  be  published  by 
the  Lucknow  Mission  Press.  When  the  publication  of  it 
was  transferred  to  Calcutta  the  title  was  changed  to 
the  "Indian  Witness." 

The  development  of  a  Christian  literature  was  never 
lost  sight  of  by  the  mission.  In  1880  Mr.  Craven  re- 
ported the  publication  of  a  commentary  on  Matthew  and 
Mark  in  the  lithograph  Urdu,  a  large  quarto  of  350 
pages  by  Rev.  T.  J.  Scott ;  a  concordance  of  the  Holy 
Scripture,  a  volume  of  912  pages,' by  Rev.  R.  Hoskins; 
and  an  illustrated  "  Life  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  a 
translation  of  "  Our  King  and  Saviour,"  by  Dr.  Daniel 
Wise.  These  but  typify  the  literature  which  the  mis- 
sion   was    furnishing.     In    18S1    the  "Commentary  on 


Literary  and  Publishing  Interests.  1 1 3 

Exodus,"  by  the  Rev.  D.  W.  Thomas;  a  revised  transla- 
tion of  the  "Methodist  Discipline,"  by  Dr.  Parker,  and  the 
worksof  JosephuSjby  Rev.  H.Mansell,  were  going  through 
the  press  ;  75,000  illustrated  tickets  or  text-ca'ds  were 
printed  for  the  Sunday-school;  13,000  copies  of  the  hymn 
book,  revised  by  Dr.  Badley  and  others,  were  printed  in 
Urdu.  In  1882  Rev.  J.  H.  Messmore  once  more  took 
superintendence  of  the  press,  Mr.  Craven  having  gone  to 
America  to  recruit  his  health.  Mr.  Craven  was  again 
in  charge  in  1S84.  A  new  building  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  10,000  rupees,  and  machinery  added,  costing 
6,000  rupees  ;  also  a  fine  Cottrell  machine  was  presented 
by  C.  D.  Cooke,  the  Sunday-school  publisher,  at  Elgin, 
111.  Rev.  J.  H.  Messmore  was  again  appointed  publish- 
ing agent  in  1886,  and  was  succeeded  by  J.  H.  Schively 
in  1887. 

When  the  Rev.  Allen  J.  Maxwell  assumed  the  duties 
of  publishing  agent  in  1888,  he  recognized  that  the 
press  had  outgrown  its  former  methods  and  should  be 
reorganized  on  a  more  systematic  basis.  The  establish- 
ment could  pay  its  own  way  from  the  publications  of 
secular  and  educational  Avorks,  but  it  could  not  make 
money  sufficient  to  place  the  religious  books  on  a 
benevolent  footing.  Some  aid  was  received  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  two  million  pages  of  free  reading  was  fur- 
nished during  this  year;  besides  which  much  had  been 
issued  at  greatly  reduced  prices.  It  was  felt  that  the 
colporteur  ought  to  accompany  the  schoolmaster  and 
preacher,  and  every  mela  and  bazaar  be  sown  with  evan- 
gelistic tracts  and  Scripture  portions. 

During  1889  this  house  issued  a  weekly  four-page 
tract  by  Bishop  Thoburn,  consisting  of  15,000  copies  in 
Hindi  and  Urdu  respectively,  and  4,000  in  English,  or 


114  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

a  total  of  136,000  pages  a  week — the  most  extensive  tract 
distribution  introduced  into  any  mission  field.  The  press 
bore  the  cost  of  production,  and  the  Religious  Tract 
Society  of  London  provided  the  money  needed  in  the 
distribution.  The  "  Cliildren's  Friend,"  in  Hindi  and 
Urdu,  had  a  circulation  of  14,000  copies  weekly.  "  In- 
dia's Young  Folks,"  conducted  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Max- 
well, was  the  only  paper  for  young  folks  published  in 
the  empire.  The  "  Woman's  Friend,"  supported  by  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  had  a  circulation 
of  3,600;  it  was  designed  specially  for  women.  The 
"  Star  of  India  "  was  the  chief  organ  for  the  native 
Church.  A  valuable  part  of  the  income  of  the  press 
arose  from  the  sales  of  Anglo-vernacular  dictionaries, 
which  had  been  prepared  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Craven. 
Still  the  press  was  embarrassed  with  debt. 

The  loss  to  the  mission  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Maxwell, 
October  20,  1890,  was  incalculable.  After  an  interval 
of  twenty  years,  Dr.  Waugh  once  more  took  charge  of 
the  press  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Maxwell;  Mr.  J.  A.  Stagg, 
of  England,  was  associated  as  manager  with  Dr.  Waugh 
during  1891.  The  output  of  the  house  exceeded  that 
of  any  other  mission  publishing  house  in  India.  There 
was  hardly  a  part  of  India  where  the  vernacular  or 
English  issues  did  not  reach.  Over  seven  millions  of 
pages  of  Bishop  Thoburn's  sermon-tracts  were  circu- 
lated this  year.  A  large  contract  for  printing  text-books 
for  Government  and  mission  schools — the  Anglo-Orien- 
tal series — was  successfully  executed. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  Craven,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
press  for  the  ten  years,  1872-82,  was  again  called  to 
its  superintendence.  When  Mr.  Craven  first  took  the 
press,  he  said  $2,500  would  have  been  its  full  valuation. 


Literary  and  Publishing  Interests.  1 1 5 

When  he  left  it  there  were  hirge  premises  and  additions 
to  the  plant ;  it  was  situated  on  the  leading  street  of  the 
city  of  Lucknow,  and  he  estimated  its  value  at  $40,000. 
Mr.  Maxwell  had  made  further  additions,  and  had 
secured  an  important  business  in  school-books.  In 
1892,  under  Mr.  Craven,  the  machine  plant  was  doubled. 
The  preparation  of  a  large  dictionary — English  into 
Hindustani,  and  Hindustani  into  English — was  now  de- 
termined on. 

34.  Sunday-schools  and  Non-Christians. 

From  time  to  time  the  growth  in  the  Sunday-school 
has  been  chronicled.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  propor- 
tion of  Christian  students  in  these  schools  had  been  re- 
markable, and  the  influence  of  the  Sunday-school  in  the 
villages  was  incalculable.  Even  in  the  great  cities,  where 
non-Christian  boys  and  girls  attend  in  large  numbers,  it 
was  impossible  to  estimate  the  effect,  though  but  a  small 
proportion  of  these  students,  as  in  Lucknow,  might  be  led 
to  profess  Christianity.  Connected  with  the  Sunday- 
schools  in  Lucknow,  and  in  later  years  in  some  other 
places,  had  been  an  annual  parade  of  all  the  scholars 
through  the  streets  of  the  city.  The  results  of  these 
fetes,  and  their  aggregate  advantage  to  the  Christian 
cause,  had  been  carefully  analyzed  from  time  to  time. 
The  attempt  to  establish  Sunday-schools  in  a  large  way, 
and  to  project  them  on  the  non-Christian  community, 
was  summarized  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Messmore,  for  the 
first  twenty-two  years  of  its  history,  in  an  article  in  the 
"  Indian  Witness,"  from  which  the  following  appeared 
to  be  facts. 

Half  the  schools  had  no  pupils  in  them  who  were 
professedly  Christians.     It  was  acknowledged  that  but 


Ii6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

few  of  those  who  had  been  pupils  in  former  years  turned 
out  Christians  who  joined  the  Church.  Nor  was  it  easy 
to  trace  the  inroads  on  the  non-Christian  community 
that  had  been  hoped  for  twenty  years  before.  It  was 
plain,  however,  that  their  influence  tended  to  make  the 
people  more  friendly  and  thus  to  lessen  the  difficulties 
of  approach  to  them.  Nearly  one  hundred  rupees  were 
contributed  to  meet  the  expense  of  the  Sunday-school 
display  of  this  year  by  non-Christians.  Scores  of  young 
men  and  women  marched  in  the  procession  who  it  was 
thought  would  be  professed  Christians  were  the  social 
antagonisms  to  Christianity  less  intense. 

A  thousand  Sunday-school  scholars  paraded  through 
the  streets  of  Lucknow  in  1872  ;  thousands,  it  is  not 
extravagant  to  estimate,  swelled  the  ranks  on  this  annual 
festival  in  later  years.  When  it  was  no  longer  a  novelty, 
it  attracted  a  larger  number  of  parents  and  friends  of 
the  pupils  than  it  did  at  the  beginning.  In  the  celebra- 
tion of  1894  original  pieces  were  sung  by  the  pupils  of 
seven  non-Christian  schools,  each  piece  being  definitely 
in  praise  of  Jesus  Christ,  all  the  singers  being  non- 
Christians  who  sang  before  a  company  of  nearly  two 
thousand  persons.  No  less  than  two  hundred  and 
seventeen  prizes  were  distributed  to  those  who  had 
passed  the  first  or  second  grade.  Sixty-five  of  the  pupils 
recited  perfectly  the  topics,  golden  texts,  outlines,  and 
selected  verses  of  the  Berean  lessons  for  the  whole  year  ; 
twenty-four  others  did  the  same,  except  the  selected 
verses  ;  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  repeated  the  first 
or  second  division  of  Mudge's  Catechism  ;  twelve  per 
cent,  of  one  thousand  seven  hundred  pupils  passed  one 
or  the  other  of  these  difficult  examinations.  A  non- 
Christian  school  took  the  prize   for  the  highest  percent- 


Sunday-schools  and  Non-Christians.  1  1 "] 

age  of  Scripture  passes;  only  three  out  of  thirty-three 
of  these  schools  could  be  called  Christian  schools,  if  the 
preponderance  of  Christian  pupils  determined  the  case, 
though  Christianity  was  taught  in  them  all. 

SS.  South  India  Conference,  1876-1880. 

The  Bombay,  Bengal,  and  Madras  Mission,  whose  his- 
tory has  been  already  outlined,  was  organized  as  an  An- 
nual Conference  by  Bishop  Andrews  in  Falkland  Road 
Methodist  Episcopal  Hall,  Bombay,  November  9,  1876. 

The  Bishop  made  the  following  announcement :  "  In 
accordance  with  the  action  of  the  General  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  held  in  Baltimore, 
United  States  of  America,  May  i,  1876,  whereby  the 
South  India  Conference  was  constituted  of  all  those 
parts  of  India  not  included  in  the  North  India  Confer- 
ence, I  hereby  recognize  the  following  brethren  as  mem- 
bers of  said  Conference,  namely  : 

"  William  Taylor,  George  Bowen,  James  M.  Thoburn, 
William  E.  Robbins,  C.  P.  Hard,  D.  O.  Fox,  P.  M.  Mukerji, 
D.  Osborne,  M.  H.  Nichols,  J.  Blackstock,  G.  K.  Gilder, 
and  C.  W.  Christian  ;  and  the  following  brethren  as  pro- 
bationers in  the  said  Conference,  namely  :  F.  G.  Davis, 
F.  A.  Goodwin,  J.  Shaw,  D.  H.  Lee,  J.  E.  Robinson, 
W.  E.  Newlon,  W.  F.  G.  Curties,  and  T.  H.  Oakes. 

"  I  also  announce  the  transfer  of  W.  J.  Gladwin,  (an 
elder,)  from  the  North  India  Conference  ;  I.  F.  Row, 
(an  elder,)  from  the  New  England  Conference  ;  and 
Levan  R.  Janney,  (a  probationer,)  from  the  Central  Ohio 
Conference,  as  by  the  accompanying  certificates. 

"And  on  this  first  session  of  the  South  India  Confer- 
ence I  invoke  the  special  blessing  of  the  Great  Head  of 
the  Church. 


Ii8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

"  May  love,  faith,  and  wisdom  attend  its  deliberations, 
and  prepare  the  way  for  a  long  history  of  distinguished 
usefulness  in  this  Indian  Empire." 

Messrs.  Hard,  Gladwin,  Osborne,  and  Davis  were 
chosen  Secretaries.  Benjamin  Peters  was  admitted  on 
trial.  William  Taylor  being  in  America,  the  Conference 
instructed  Secretary  Hard  to  convey  to  him  their  Chris- 
tian salutations,  A  Book  Committee,  consisting  of  W. 
E.  Robbins,  J.  Morris,  W.  J.  Gladwin,  J.  Shaw,  D.  Os- 
borne, and  J.  M.  Thoburn,  was  constituted,  with  direc- 
tions to  open  a  book  agency  in  Bombay.  Five  days  of 
delightful  intercourse  in  evangelistic  services  and  the 
business  sessions  of  the  Conference  were  enjoyed.  Six 
hundred  copies  of  the  minutes  and  two  thousand  copies 
of  the  pastoral  address  were  ordered  printed. 

The  work  in  Bombay  had  a  Marathi  circuit  and  an 
English  circuit,  each  with  a  pastor.  The  Presiding 
Elder,  as  in  the  other  districts,  gave  more  time  to  the 
city  than  to  any  other  place.  Dean  Hall,  in  the  south  ; 
Falkland  Road  Hall,  in  the  center;  and  Mazagon  Hall,  in 
the  north,  were  the  three  main  congregations.  Here  were 
over  two  hundred  members,  with  about  as  many  Sunday- 
school  scholars.  Thirteen  local  preachers  were  on  the 
evangelistic  force.  The  contributions  in  1877  were 
7,500  rupees  ;  no  public  collection  being  taken,  except 
quarterly  for  the  poor.  The  giving  was  through  the 
fellowship  bands.  The  people  were  building  a  church, 
and  had  a  plan  for  parsonage  and  school.  Early  in 
1878  George  Miles,  who  was  the  first  to  request  Mr. 
Taylor  to  organize  a  Church  in  India,  died  in  triumph, 
saying,  "  Jesus  saves  me!  Jesus  soothes  me!"  Bom- 
bay had  furnished  the  Annual  Conference  with  sev- 
eral   preachers.      The    motto    of  the   city,  Pritnus   in 


South  India  Conference^  187 6-1880.  119 

Indis,  was  held  applicable  to  the  Church  as  well  as  the 
municipality. 

The  Conference  could  not  but  be  encouraged  with  a 
review  of  the  five  years  of  the  history  of  the  work  since 
William  Taylor  first  began  to  labor  in  this  territory.  It 
was  then  "  without  financial  resources,  without  a  staff  of 
laborers,  witliout  local  prestige,  and  without  a  single 
church  or  chapel  in  which  to  worship." 

While  the  majority  of  those  enrolled  as  members  of 
various  Churches  were  English-speaking  persons,  from 
the  first  the  aim  was  to  reach  the  native  population 
about  them.  They  had  attained  the  following  status  : 
Members,  1,179;  probationers,  417;  local  preachers, 
40;  total,  1,636.  Churches,  13,  valued  at  115,391 
rupees,  with  two  parsonages  worth  6,650  rupees.  No 
less  than  44,762  rupees  had  been  contributed  for  prop- 
erty within  the  year,  and  14,250  rupees  for  "self-support," 
and  18,317  rupees  for  other  purposes.  The  Sunday- 
schools  numbered  31  ;  scholars,  1,681  ;  expenses  of  the 
schools,  1,730  rupees. 

The  following  appointments  for  the  ensuing  year 
were  announced  :  Bombay  District. — G.  Bowen,  Presid- 
ing Elder.  Conference  Evangelist,  William  Taylor.  Bom- 
bay, G.  Bowen,  I.  F.  Row,  one  to  be  supplied.  Poona, 
J.  Blackstock.  Tanna,  W.  E.  Robbins.  Egutpoora,  to 
be  supplied.  Mhow,  W.  H.  Nichols.  Nagpore,  W.  J. 
Gladwin.  Kurrachee,  D.  O.  Fox.  Calcutta  District. — 
J.  M.  Thoburn,  Presiding  Elder.  Calcutta,  J.  M.  Tho- 
burn,  F.  A.  Goodwin.  Seamen's  ^Church,  T.  H.  Oakes. 
Darjeeling,  to  be  supplied.  Raj  Mahal,  P.  M.  Mukerji. 
Allahabad,  D.  Osborne,  T,.  R.  Janney.  Jubbulpore,  to 
be  supplied.  Agra,  C.  W.  Christian.  Meerut,  G.  K. 
Gilder.      Roorkee,  D.  H.  Lee.     Madras  District. — C.  P. 


120  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

Hard,  Presiding  Elder.  Madras,  C.  P.  Hard,  F.  G. 
Davis,  B.  Peters,  one  to  be  supplied.  Bangalore,  J. 
Shaw,  W.  E.  Newlon.  Bellary,  to  be  supplied.  Hy- 
derabad and  Secunderabad,  J.  E.  Robinson,  W.  F.  G. 
Curties. 

The  second  session  of  the  Conference  in  Dhurrumtol- 
lah  Church,  Calcutta,  November  15-20,  1877,  was  pre- 
sided over  by  J.  M.  Thoburn.  C.  B.  Ward  had  been 
transferred  from  Central  Illinois  Conference  to  this. 
The  names  of  Revs.  W.  B.  Osborn,  J.  A.  Northrup,  and 
P.  T.  Wilson  were  now  found  on  the  Conference  roll. 
An  important  feature  of  the  proceedings  was  the  organi- 
zation of  the  "Church  Extension  Loan  Fund  Society," 
also  a  "  Preacher's  Aid  Fund." 

The  third  session  of  the  Conference  was  favored  with 
the  presence  of  Bishop  Bowman.  -  It  met  at  Madras, 
December  5-1 1,  1S78.  H.  Torbit  and  J.  W.  Gamble 
were  transferred  to  this  Conference.  Dr.  W.  G.  Van 
Somerin  had  generously  donated  5,000  rupees  as  a 
nucleus  of  a  fund  for  widows  and  orphans  of  members 
of  this  Conference.  A  successful  camp-meeting  had 
been  held  at  Lanowlee.  Miss  M.  E.  Layton  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Girls'  School  of  Calcutta,  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  V\^oman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in 
Southern  India. 

Januarys,  1880,  the  South  India  Conference  convened 
in  its  fourth  session  at  Allahabad,  George  Bowen,  presi- 
dent. Robert  E.  Carter,  Marion  B.  Kirk,  Ira  A.  Rich- 
ards, Wellington  Bowser,  Oramil  Shreves,  James  Lyon, 
Henry  T.  Kastendieck,  Melville  Y.  Bovard,  and  S. 
Jacobs  were  received  from  American  Conferences  by 
transfer.  George  I.  Stone  was  admitted  on  trial.  P.  T. 
Wilson  was  transferred  to  the  North  India  Conference. 


South  India  Conference,  187 6- 1880.  121 

Hiram  Torbit  had  died  during  the  year.  The  impor- 
tant measure  adopted  by  this  Conference  was  the  provi- 
sion of  a  meeting  of  ils  members  with  those  of  the  North 
India  Conference,  as  narrated  in  the  record  of  the  Cen- 
tral Conference.  The  Conference  thanked  William 
Taylor  for  his  pains  in  procuring  suitable  men  and  send- 
ing them  forward  to  this  Conference.  They  did  not, 
however,  think  it  wise  to  send  young  men  with  the  an- 
ticipation of  their  completing  their  education  in  India. 
It  was  decided  that  the  educational  plan  of  the  Confer- 
ence must  look  to  the  Board  and  high-grade  schools 
at  central  points,  such  as  Poona,  Bangalore,  Calcutta, 
and  Cawnpore.  It  was  expected  that  schools  would 
shortly  be  open  at  Bombay  and  Jubbulpore.  The  Alla- 
habad School  reported  fifty  pupils  ;  and  a  theological  class 
was  contemplated  at  Poona,  and  an  Orphanage  was 
under  consideration.  Miss  Margaret  Elliot,  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  arrived  on  the  field. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  in  Bom- 
bay, December  15-20,  1880,  Bishop  Merrill,  presiding. 
Twenty  members  and  seven  probationers  answered  to 
their  names.  Rev.  John  S.  Inskip  and  Rev.  W.  Mac- 
donald,  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Wood,  of  America,  being  pres- 
ent, addressed  the  Conference.  The  Publishing  Com- 
mittee was  authorized  to  open  a  Book  Concern  Stock 
Fund.  The  Poona  School,  under  Rev.  W.  E.  Robbins, 
reported  thirty-four  boarders  and  forty-four  day-pupils. 
A  boarding  and  day-school  was  commenced  in  February, 
1S80,  at  Bangalore,  of  which  I.  A.  Richards  was  ap- 
pointed principal.  Miss  Winslow  had  opened  a  girls' 
school  in  Madras  early  in  the  year,  which  now  enrolled 
sixty  pupils.  A  boarding  and  day-school  had  been  car- 
ried on  at  Chadarghat  with  forty  day-pupils  and  ten 


122  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

boarders.  Two  schools  had  been  organized  in  Bom- 
bay, they  numbering  together  seventy-five  pupils.  The 
Cawnpore  Memorial  School  enrolled  seventy-five,  and 
employed  five  teachers.  The  Girls'  School  at  Allaha- 
bad had  fifty-seven  pupils,  of  whom  eleven  were  board- 
ers. Miss  Spence  arrived  from  America  to  take  charge 
of  it.  The  Boys'  School  at  Calcutta  reported  sixty 
pupils,  nine  of  whom  were  boarders.  Mr.  C.  A.  Martin, 
from  America,  now  took  charge  of  it.  Miss  Layton' 
continued  in  charge  of  the  Calcutta  Girls'  School.  The 
Egutpoora  School  had  now  thirty-six  pupils. 

36.  South  India  Conference,  1881-1885. 

The  sixth  session  of  the  South  India  Conference 
was  held  in  Bangalore,  November  3-9,  1881,  George 
Bowen  being  chosen  president.  The  Conference  ap- 
proved the  proceedings  of  the  delegated  Conference 
which  had  been  held  at  Allahabad  in  July,  an  account 
of  which  is  given  in  the  section  treating  of  the  Central 
Conference.  The  Rev.  Frank  A.  Goodwin  had  died. 
He  was  born  September  13,  1847,  at  Biddeford,  Me., 
and  had  done  valuable  work  in  India  since  his  arrival, 
in  1873,  at  Kurrachee  and  Calcutta.  He  had  been 
obliged,  on  account  of  ill  health,  to  return  to  America, 
where  he  died  August  16,  1881.  There  were  now  twenty- 
four  members  of  Conference  who  had  been  sent  from 
America.  The  educational  work  was  advancing.  There 
were,  now,  the  Cannington  Girls'  School  at  Allahabad; 
and  the  Baldwin  High  School  at  Bangalore,  the 
buildings  of  which  had  been  purchased  by  the  generous 
donation  of  $3,000  from  "  Father  Baldwin,"  of  Berea, 
O.  ;  the  Bombay  School,  with  45  boys  and  25  girls  ;  the 
Calcutta   Girls'    School,  under   Miss    Layton,   with    15. 


South  India  Conference^  1881-1885.  ^23 

boarding  and  40  day  pupils,  (Miss  Emma  L.  Knowles 
came  from  America  to  aid  Miss  Layton ;)  the  Memorial 
Boys'  School  at  Cawnpore ;  the  Rangoon  Girls'  School, 
under  Miss  Warner;  and  schools  in  Madras  and  Poona. 

The  work  was  encouraging,  though  it  was  frankly 
confessed  that  the  success  thus  far  had  not  been  equal 
to  the  hopes  and  expectations  of  not  a  few  who  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  work  from  the  first.  Possi- 
bly their  hopes  Avere  unreasonably  high,  and  possibly 
the  results  were  really  better  than  were  apparent  on  the 
surface.  One  thing,  however,  was  very  worthy  of  notice; 
the  men  who  had  stood  at  their  posts  from  the  first  were 
one  and  all  full  of  confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of 
the  work. 

It  is  probable  that  they  did  not  sufficiently  appreciate 
at  the  outset  the  magnitude  of  the  task  involved  in 
founding  a  score  of  churches  and  training  them 
up  in  habits  of  self-support,  and  disciplining  them  for 
aggressive  work.  This  had  been  found  peculiarly  diffi- 
cult among,  a  people  perpetually  changing  residence. 
A  generation  of  Anglo-Indian  people  was  estimated  at 
about  seven  years,  and  every  Church  must  renew  itself 
at  least  once  in  that  length  of  time.  Taking  this  into 
account,  it  was  perhaps  unwise  to  expect  a  feeble  little 
Conference  suddenly  to  develop  into  a  powerful,  well- 
organized,  and  fully-equipped  mission  in  so  brief  a 
period. 

They  were  not,  however,  without  fruit.  About  one 
seventh  of  the  members  were  natives.  At  Rangoon  two 
Burmese  had  been  baptized  recently.  At  Calcutta  seven 
Hindus  were  baptized  during  the  past  quarter,  and  other 
baptisms  had  taken  place  at  Bombay  and  different  points 
in  Southern  and  Western  India.    In  Calcutta  was  a  fully- 


124  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

organized  Bengalee  Church,  with  more  than  a  hundred 
members.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  this  Church 
had  been  practically  self-supporting,  having  paid  both 
house-rent  and  salary  of  their  native  pastor.  In  the 
villages  in  the  vicinity  of  Calcutta  were  several  congre- 
gations with  an  aggregate  membership  of  nearly  a  hun- 
dred. All  this  work  had  grown  legitimately  and  natur- 
ally out  of  the  work  among  the  English-speaking  people. 
In  Bombay  was  a  considerable  membership,  and  at 
other  points  smaller  classes  were  organized.  Within 
their  borders,  and  by  their  people,  the  Gospel  was 
preached  every  week  in  half  a  dozen  native  languages. 

Among  the  Telugus,  in  the  Nizam's  territory,  Mr. 
Ward  was  conducting  an  orphanage,  and  also  carrying 
on  ordinary  missionary  work.  He  had  sixty-four  orphans 
under  his  care,  and  hoped  to  train  up  some  men  and 
women  who  might  hereafter  do  a  valuable  work  in  that 
remote  region.  During  the  year  new  churches  were 
organized  at  Lahore  in  the  Panjab,  at  Mussoorie  a  large 
sanitarium  in  the  Himalayas,  and  at  Connoor  in  the 
Nilgaria  Mountains,  in  South  India.  Other  doors  stood 
wide  open,  but  laborers  adapted  to  this  work  were  very 
few. 

Bishop  Foster  held  the  seventh  session  of  the  Confer- 
ence December  21-27,  1882.  Secretary  Reid,  who,  as  has 
been  related,  accompanied  Bishop  Foster  in  his  episco- 
pal visitation  to  all  parts  of  the  India  missions,  con- 
ducted the  opening  services  of  this  session  of  the  Confer- 
ence. Dr.  Reid  explained  that  he  was  not  charged  with 
official  responsibilities  regarding  the  work  in  South  In- 
dia. He  reported  to  the  Board  that  this  visit  greatly 
increased  his  interest  in  the  work  of  this  Conference. 
"In   a  brief  ten   years,"  he  said,  "noble  churches  and 


South  India  Conference,  1881-1885.  125 

congregations  have  been  established,  and  real  estate  of 
great  value  and  beauty  accumulated,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  ;|i48,2oo,  as  valued  in  the  Conference  sta- 
tistics. The  almost  sublime  struggle  of  the  Conference 
after  a  method  by  which  the  natives  can  be  reached,  de- 
pending on  themselves  alone  for  the  support  of  their 
pastors,  truly  excited  my  admiration."  He  appreciated 
the  problems  so  difficult  of  solution,  and  of  the  duty  of 
reaching  the  natives  from  the  English  Churches  already 
established,  but  saw  that  a  great  India  Methodism  might 
grow  up  rapidly  in  the  territory  of  this  Conference  if 
these  English-speaking  Churches  could,  besides  support- 
ing their  own  pastors,  become  thoroughly  imbued  with 
an  aggressive  missionary  spirit  toward  the  heathen  about 
them. 

On  the  Bombay  and  Madras  Districts  the  reports 
showed  that  work  was  being  carried  on  among  natives 
speaking  five  or  six  languages,  and  a  number  had  been 
baptized.  At  Pramoor,  in  the  Mohammedan  State  of 
Hyderabad,  work  was  being  done  among  the  native 
community,  and  the  Rev.  C.  B.  Ward  had  an  Orphanage 
with  seventy  inmates,  the  older  boys  aiding  in  preach- 
ing in  Telugu  and  Canarese. 

At  Kolar,  in  the  Mysore  territory,  Miss  Anstey,  an 
English  lady,  established  a  large  Orphanage  some  years 
ago.  Miss  Anstey  came  in  person  to  ask  of  the  Confer- 
ence that  Mr.  S.  P.  Jacobs  might  be  placed  in  ecclesi- 
astical charge  of  her  work.  This  was  done,  and  a  com- 
mittee appointed  to  arrange  terms  for  future  connection 
of  the  Conference  with  the  institution. 

The  Allahabad  District  occupied  nearly  all  of  North- 
western and  part  of  Central  India.     Dennis   Osborne 

was  Presiding  Elder.     Some  debts  had  been  paid  off, 
9 


126  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

three  or  four  new  churches  had  been  projected,  one 
Hindustani  Church  organized,  and  steps  taken  to  enlarge 
the  vernacular  work,  of  the  district.  Two  additional 
preachers  had  joined  the  work  within  the  bounds  of  this 
district  during  the  year. 

On  the  Calcutta  District,  at  Rangoon,  a  solid  founda- 
tion had  been  secured  for  the  Girls'  School.  A  number  of 
city  lots,  worth  $10,000,  were  given  by  the  Government, 
with  an  additional  1^5,000  for  buildings,  and  there  was 
a  good  prospect  of  securing  three  or  four  thousand  dol- 
lars from  the  city  authorities.  Miss  Warner  had  already 
made  a  very  good  beginning  with  the  school.  There 
was  in  Rangoon  a  good  church  and  parsonage. 

The  English  Church,  Calcutta,  and  work  among  women 
remained  about  the  same  as  last  year.  Conversions  con- 
stantly occurred,  as  they  had  done  for  nine  years  past. 
But  for  repeated  losses  by  removals  they  would  soon  have 
had  a  very  large  membership.  Tjhe  two  boarding-schools 
were  both  prospering.  The  one  for  girls,  under  Miss 
Layton,  was  firmly  established  in  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  and  was  doing  a  most  excellent  work.  The  boys' 
school,  under  Mr,  C.  A.  Martin,  numbered  among  its 
scholars  two  Karens  and  one  Burmese  from  Burma, 
one  boy  from  Assam,  several  Armenians  from  Persia,  and 
two  Arabs  living  in  Calcutta.  At  Bangalore  Mr.  I.  A. 
Richards  had  built  up  an  excellent  school  for  both 
sexes. 

Miss  M.  B.  Spence,  who  had  arrived  in  18S0,  and 
Miss  Warner,  who  came  in  1881,  were  now  respectively 
in  charge  of  Cannington  Girls'  School,  Allahabad,  and 
the  Girls'  School  in  Rangoon. 

The  eighth  session  of  the  Conference,  in  Allahabad, 
November  22-28,  1S83,  was  presided  over  by  Dr.  Tho- 


South  India  Conference,  1881-1885.  127 

burn  and  favored  with  the  inspiring  presence  of  Dr. 
William  liutler.  Miss  Mary  M'Kisson  arrived  to  rep- 
resent the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

The  ninth  session  of  the  Conference  at  Chadarghat, 
in  the  Nizam's  Dominions,  November  20-25,  1884,  was 
presided  over  by  Bishop  John  F.  Hurst.  Mrs.  Adeline 
Smith,  of  Oak  Park,  111.,  made  a  formal  proposal  to  pre- 
sent to  the  Conference  20,000  rupees  for  a  boys'  school 
at  Mussoorie,  in  the  North-west  Himalayas,  to  bear  the 
name  of  her  deceased  husband.  Philander  H.  Smith. 
Bishoj)  Hurst  made  a  complete  redistribution  of  presid- 
ing elder  districts,  and  Allahabad,  Bombay,  Burma,  Cal- 
cutta, Madras,  and  Central  India  Districts  now  appear 
on  the  minutes.  Miss  Margaret  C.  Hedrick  arrived 
for  work  in  Calcutta,  and  Miss  Sarah  De  Line  for  Bom- 
bay. Work  was  begun  at  Pakur,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  miles  north-west  of  Calcutta  by  train. 
Twelve  miles  from  the  mission  station  on  the  east  are 
the  Santhal  Hills;  twelve  miles  on  the  west  is  the  river 
Ganges,  but  in  the  rainy  season  the  overflow  is  so  great 
that  the  Avater  comes  to  within  two  miles  of  Pakur  ; 
thus  this  mission  is  situated  in  the  fertile  Ganges  val- 
ley, teeming  with  millions  of  Hindus  and  Moslems. 
Near  by  were  fifty  villages,  with  about  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants. 

The  woman's  work  was  prosperous.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  zenana  workers  was  now  thirty-eight.  If  five 
ninths  of  the  members  of  the  Church  were  women,  there 
would  be  one  woman  engaged  in  evangelistic  work  out 
of  every  nineteen  in  the  Church.  There  were  thirty-five 
other  women,  however,  visiting  among  English-speaking 
homes.  Miss  Ernsberger  joined  the  mission  October 
29,  1884. 


F28  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

This  Conference  session  witnessed  the  inauguration  of 
the  first  foreign  mission  yet  attempted  by  the  India 
Methodist  Churches.  It  was  not  established,  not  begun, 
not  authorized  even,  by  the  General  Committee  in 
America,  but  the  i)rovidences  seemed  clear  to  the 
Bishop  and  the  Conference,  and  so  Singapore^  two  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  a  straight  line 
from  the  most  northerly  point  of  the  South  India  Con- 
ference, appears  on  the  list  of  appointments,  and  Mr. 
W.  F.  Oldham  was  assigned  to  the  same,  as  will  be  re- 
counted in  the  section  on  Malaysia  Mission. 

87.  South   India  Conference,  1886-1892. 

The  tenth  session  of  the  Conference  was  presided  over 
by  Dr.  Thoburn  at  Bombay,  January  28  to  February  2, 
1886.  Two  members  of  the  Conference  were  in  Amer- 
ica. The  Rev.  G.  A.  Davis  left  in  March  for  America. 
Seven  were  detained  from  attending,  but  there  were 
forty-one  present,  including  probationers.  Four  proba- 
tioners were  received  into  full  membership,  and  three 
admitted  on  probation.  Delegates  were  elected  to  the 
Central  Conference  to  convene  in  Bombay,  Febru- 
ary 22. 

The  following  summary  of  items  were  reported  to  the 
Conference  : 

Whole  number  of  members  and  probationers 1,328 

Whole  number  who  go  street-preaching  regularly. .  6g 

Average i  in  19 

Whole  number  of  members  and  probationers  who 

go  street-preaching  only  occasionally 67 

Average i  in  19 

Of  the  ministers  reporting,  nine  assign  no  reasons 
why  others  do  not  go  street-preaching.    Various  reasons 


South  India  Conference,  1 886-1 892.  129 

are  given  on    the  reports  of  the  others,  which  prevent 
other  laymen  from  preaching  to  natives  in  the  streets. 

Whole  number  of  men  visiting  from  house  to  house  49 
Compared  with  our  membership,  this  is  an    aver- 
age of I  in  27 

Amount  contributed  for  native  work  is  (rupees).  .  .  .  8,107 

This  has  been  apphed  to  support  native  preachers, 
teachers  in  native  schools,  and  for  books  and  tracts  and 
house  rentals  and  repairs.  This  liberal  contribution  is 
praiseworthy,  and  perhaps  indicates  that  greater  effort 
might  be  put  forth  in  other  departments  of  the  native 
work. 

Whole  number  of  native  conversions 26 

Whole  number  of  others  converted 212 

Whole  number  of  natives  baptized 19 

The  committee  said  that  while  these  figures  indicate 
facts  in  the  specific  lines  named,  they  cannot  show  the 
personal  effort  put  forth  in  other  lines  for  the  salvation 
of  souls,  both  native  and  European. 

Rangoon  was  in  good  condition.  The  various  inter- 
ests of  the  Church  were  well  sustained.  The  coffee- 
room  had  been  well  attended,  and  much  good  had  been 
done  at  the  meetings  held  in  connection  with  it.  Out- 
door services  were  maintained  regularly  up  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  rains.  The  native  Church  had  not  pros- 
pered as  well  as  was  hoped,  owing  largely  to  the  shifting 
character  of  the  Tamil  and  Telugu  people  in  Rangoon. 
The  debt  on  the  church  had  been  nearly  all  paid  off, 
and  no  longer  caused  any  anxiety.  Mr.  Robinson  had 
been  officially  aided  throughout  the  year  by  Mr.  H. 
Morbey,  who  had  acted  as  "  supply,"  according  to  the 
arrangement  made  at  the  last  Conference. 


130  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  Conference  said  the  time  had  fully  come  for 
strengthening  the  work  in  Burma.  A  second  mission- 
ary should  be  sent  to  Rangoon  from  the  present  Confer- 
ence, and  plans  formed  for  the  extension  of  the  work 
all  along  the  south-east  coast,  from  Calcutta  to  Singapore. 
A  vast  empire  was  growing  up  in  that  distant  region,  and 
it  was  felt  that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  planting  evan- 
gelistic agencies  at  all  the  commanding  points  along  the 
coast.  In  the  good  providence  of  God  the  mission  was 
at  Rangoon,  and  should  at  once  be  strengthened,  and 
then  they  would  push  on  into  the  regions  beyond. 

The  Seamen's  Mission  in  Calcutta  was  now  carried  on 
at  two  points,  Lai  Bazaar  and  Hastings.  During  the  en- 
tire year  the  mission  had  suffered  for  want  of  a  sufificient 
force  to  maintain  the  work  at  both  places.  Early  in 
July  Mr.  G.  I.  Stone  and  wife  were  invalided  to  Amer- 
ica, and  it  became  necessary  to  take  Mr.  Eddy  from  the 
English  Church  and  place  him  in  charge  of  the  work. 
Mr.  Eddy  had  charge  of  the  entire  work,  and  was  carry- 
ing it  on  carefully  but  steadily,  and  with  constant  tokens 
of  blessing.  The  report  of  this  mission  did  not  change 
much  from  year  to  year.  The  seamen  come  and  go,  the 
coffee-rooms  are  well  attended,  the  meetings  in  the  chapel 
rooms  attached  are  maintained  without  interruption, 
and  every  week  throuL;hout  the  year  witnesses  the  in- 
gathering of  one  or  more  precious  souls. 

A  new  church  was  dedicated  at  Lahore,  May  29, 
1885. 

Miss  Layton  returned  to  America,  leaving  the  finest 
educational  building,  at  that  time,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  all  India,  if  not  in  all  the  foreign 
fields. 

This  session  of   the  Conference  was  remarkable  for 


South  India  Conference,  1886-1892.  13! 

inaugurating  what  many  considered  a  fundamental 
change  in  the  policy  of  self-support,  which  Jiad  obtained 
from  the  beginning  of  the  work  in  South  India.  It  had 
not  only  not  coveted,  but  peremptorily  declined,  to  re- 
ceive appropriations  for  the  work  on  the  field,  restrict- 
ing help  from  the  Missionary  Society  to  cost  of  transit 
of  missionaries  and  to  buildings,  leaving  the  missionary 
to  find  his  entire  support  from  the  people  whom  he 
served.  It  was  manifest  to  many  that  this  policy,  however 
praiseworthy  in  itself,  had  not  been  sufficiently  sus- 
tained by  the  Christian  community  to  allow  of  its  doing 
all  the  aggressive  work  which  seemed  providentially 
thrust  upon  it.  The  question  of  accepting  aid  from  the 
Missionary  Society  for  certain  classes  of  work  on  condi- 
tions which  would  not  contravene  the  spirit  and  aim  of 
self-support,  had  been  thrust  fairly  to  the  front,  and 
though  not  the  unanimous,  yet  the  general  judgment  of 
the  members  of  the  Conference  was  in  favor  of  some 
modification  that  would  aid  their  purely  missionary  ex- 
tension. The  result  was  that  an  arrangement  was  con- 
cluded with  the  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Conference 
consented  to  receive  moneys  from  the  home  treasury  in 
the  form  of  a  "  Grant-in-Aid." 

Under  this  provisional  appropriation  the  Conference 
was  limited  as  follows  :  First,  to  the  use  only  of  so 
much  of  the  money  granted  by  the  Missionary  Society 
as  it  might  duplicate  by  moneys  raised  in  India.  The 
second  prescribed  that  these  appropriations  were  to 
be  used  only  for  three  classes  of  work  :  i.  For  initial 
work  in  new  and  remote  districts.  2.  For  the  support 
of  missionaries  wholly  engaged  in  evangelistic  work,  in- ' 
eluding  support  of  presiding  elders  while  supervising 
wholly    native    work.     3.  The    support     of    newly-ap- 


132  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

pointed  missionaries  during  their  first  year.  The  Gen- 
eral Missionary  Committee,  in  November,  1885,  had 
made  an  appropriation  to  the  South  India  Conference  of 
$10,000,  to  be  distributed  by  the  Conference  subject  to 
these  conditions.  They  also  appropriated  $15,000  for 
expenses  of  outgoing  and  returning  missionaries  to  this 
immense  field.  Thus  the  General  Committee  in  the 
United  States  and  the  Conference  in  South  India  were 
completely  at  one  in  their  determination  to  insist  upon 
entire  self-support  in  all  the  English-speaking  work, 
and  to  insist,  also,  with  equal  earnestness  that  the  native 
work  should  contribute  to  its  own  support. 

A  Woman's  Missionary  Conference  was  now  organ- 
ized for  the  South  India  Conference  under  a  constitu- 
tion which  provided  that  the  wives  of  members  and  pro- 
bationers in  the  South  India  Conference,  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  appointees,  deaconesses  in 
charge  of  work,  and  lay  workers  formally  elected  by  this 
Woman's  Annual  Conference  should  be  members  of 
this  body. 

Bishop  Ninde  presided  at  the  eleventh  session,  held 
in  Madras,  February  3-8,  1887.  The  Rev.  Abel  Ste- 
vens, D.D.,  the  eminent  historian  of  Methodism,  was 
present  and  addressed  the  Conference.  The  subject 
of  the  division  of  the  Conference  was  considered  and 
referred  to  the  next  General  Conference.  The  Confer- 
ence addressed  the  next  Central  Conference  on  the  sub- 
ject of  greater  equality  in  salaries.  Ajmere,  Bombay, 
Burma,  Calcutta,  Madras,  and  Mussoorie  were  the  titles 
now  given  to  the  districts.  The  Rev.  C.  R.  Thoburn  had 
been  ordered  to  America  on  account  of  ill  health. 

On  motion  of  W.  F.  Oldham  the  Conference  memo- 
rialized the  next  Central  Conference  to  constitute  Sinsia- 


South  India  Conference^  1 886-1 892.  133 

pore  a  separate  mission  under  the  General  Committee  of 
the  Missionary  Society.  The  great  distance  from  In- 
dia and  the  peculiarities  of  the  field  rendered  it  difficult 
to  administer  from  an  India  Conference.  They  also 
memorialized  the  General  Conference  to  divide  the  South 
India  Conference. 

As  the  Central  Conference,  which  was  held  in  Bom- 
bay a  few  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  South  India 
Conference,  divided  it  into  two  Conferences,  it  is  of 
interest  to  know  whereunto  the  churches  had  grown  at 
the  close  of  this  first  decade  since  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence was  organized.  The  Conference  enrolled  52  mem- 
bers, including  11  probationers;  two  were  in  America. 
The  English  Avork  reported  23  pastors,  1,578  members 
and  probationers  ;  49,865  rupees  for  self-support.  The 
native  work  had  467  members  and  probationers;  23  boys' 
day-schools,  with  898  pupils  ;  7  girls'  schools,  with  236 
pupils  ;  the  expenditure  on  the  native  work  amounted 
to  60,397  rupees,  of  which  23,610  rupees  had  been  raised 
in  India.  There  were  12  baptisms  of  Mohammedans 
and  47  of  Hindus.  The  presiding  elders'  districts  were 
manned  as  follows  :  Allahabad,  D.  Osborne  ;  Bombay, 
J,  E.  Robinson ;  Burma,  W.  F.  Oldham  ;  Calcutta,  J.  M. 
Thoburn,  Jr.  ;  Central  India,  C.  P.  Hard  ;  Madras,  A. 
W.  Rudisill. 

The  twelfth  session  of  South  India  Conference  was 
held  at  Poona,  January  26-31,  1888,  Rev,  George  Bowen, 
President. 

At  the  session  of  the  Central  Conference  of  India, 
held  in  Bombay  in  February  17,  1887,  Bishop  Ninde, 
acting  under  authority  delegated  by  the  General  Con- 
ference, divided  the  vast  area  formerly  comprised  with- 
in the  South  India  Conference  into  two  Annual  Confer- 


134  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ences,  one  bearing  the  original  name  and  the  other  to 
be  called  the  Bengal  Conference.  In  making  this  divis- 
ion lines  of  travel  were  considered  rather  than  geo- 
graphical boundaries,  with  the  result  that  the  South 
India  Conference  was  much  more  compact  than  the 
younger  member  of  the  sisterhood  of  India  Conferences. 
As  technically  described  by  tlie  General  Conference, 
May,  1888,  South  India  Conference  included  Sindh, 
Guzerat,  the  Bombay  Presidency,  and  all  of  peninsular 
India  south  and  west  of  a  line  drawn  from  Burhanpur, 
C.  P.,  to  Jabalpur,  not  including  those  stations  ;  thence 
due  east  to  Bengal  and  along  its  south-west  border  to 
the  Bay  of  Bengal.  It  embraced  the  cities  of  Bombay, 
Madras,  and  Karachi,  with  nearly  all  the  territory  in  the 
peninsular  proper,  together  with  part  of  Central  India 
and  the  province  of  Sindh,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Indus. 
Though  reduced  in  territory  the  Conference  still  ex- 
tended over  a  vast  area  and  included  an  enormous  popu- 
lation. Karachi  is  as  far  from  Bombay  as  Charleston  is 
from  New  York,  while  Madras,  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, is  as  far  away  as  Chicago  is  from  Boston.  The 
whole  Conference  was  organized  into  two  presiding 
elder  districts,  Bombay  and  Madras,  both  of  which  are 
practically  the  same  in  extent  as  before  the  division. 

Dr.  Thoburn  was  injured  in  Americaby  runaway  horses, 
and  for  a  time  disabled  for  all  public  work.  The  Con- 
ference had  made  him  general  counselor  to  the  South 
India  Conference.  The  Conference  petitioned  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  to  empower  the  Central  Conference  to 
again  divide  the  South  India  Conference,  subject  to 
concurrence  of  existing  Conferences.  The  Lay  Elec- 
toral Conference  elected  as  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference  Mr.  Stanley  Murray,  of  Secunderabad,  As- 


South  India  Conference,  1886- 189 2.  135 

sistant  Resident  Agent  in  the  Court  of  His  Highness, 
the  Nizam. 

Baldwin  High  Schools,  Bangalore,  under  Rev.  H,  C. 
Stuntz,  Principal,  comprised  two  separate  schools  under 
one  management — one  for  each  sex.  In  the  seven  years 
of  its  history  it  had  acquired  real  estate  valued  at  20,000 
rupees,  and  the  building  now  being  erected  would  in- 
crease the  value  to  30,000  rupees.  The  attendance  at 
present  was  140 — dd  girls  and  74  boys.  Thirteen  teach- 
ers, with  the  principal,  compose  the  staff.  Forty-two 
pupils  from  the  various  classes  went  up  for  the  public 
examinations  at  the  close  of  the  year.  With  what  help 
the  government  gives  the  schools  are  self-supporting, 
although  there  is  no  opportunity  to  save  and  add  to  our 
accommodations. 

In  Vepery,  Madras,  under  Rev.  A.  W.  Rudisill, 
Preacher  in  Charge,  the  church  edifice  had  been  reno- 
vated, a  beautiful  stained-glass  window  placed  behind 
the  pulpit,  and  a  class-room  built.  The  improvement 
cost  2,000  rupees.  The  entire  amount  was  raised  in 
Madras  with  the  exception  of  about  400  rupees  kindly 
given  by  friends  in  America.  Pakur  had  had  sixteen 
Mohammedan  converts  connected  with  the  Church  since 
the  beginning,  in  1884. 

The  vast  province  of  Hyderabad,  known  as  the  Nizam's 
dominions,  contains  a  population  of  eleven  millions, 
ruled  by  a  Mohammedan  prince.  It  had  long  been  con- 
sidered absolutely  impenetrable  to  Christian  evangelism. 
No  mission  had  ever  gained  access  into  the  city  proper. 
The  State  of  Hyderabad  is  the  largest,  wealthiest,  and 
most  influential  of  all  the  native  States  of  India  ;  and  the 
city,  Hyderabad,  having  300,000  population,  is  the 
stronghold    of    Islam   in   India,  and   is   situated   on   the 


136  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

right  bank  of  the  river  Musi.  The  street  architecture 
of  Hyderabad  is  not  imposing,  for,  witli  the  exception 
of  some  buildings,  there  are  few  which  have  pretensions 
to  much  merit.  The  palaces  of  some  of  the  nobles  are 
an  exception.  Many  of  them  are  very  handsome  build- 
ings, and  are  furnished  with  everything  that  luxury  can 
suggest.  But  it  is  not  the  city  or  the  public  buildings, 
or  the  bazaars  and  public  thoroughfares  of  Hyderabad 
that  present  so  many  attractions,  as  the  people  wlio 
throng  them.  The  city  is  famed  for  having  the  most 
warlike  population  of  any  town  in  India.  In  past  years 
it  was  the  custom  with  many  to  go  about  armed.  This 
was  simply  the  result  of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  place 
when  street  fights  and  disturbances  were  the  rule.  All 
this  had  changed,  and  Hyderabad  had  had  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  pence  and  prosperity  such  as  it  had  never 
before  experienced.  Still,  the  custom  of  carrying  weap- 
ons had  not  altogether  died  out,  but  was  confined  to  the 
watchmen  class  and  the  military,  when  otherwise  it  was 
a  mere  matter  of  form  or  ceremony. 

Another  striking  peculiarity  about  Hyderabad  is  the 
mixed  nature  of  the  population.  There  is,  probably, 
no  other  city  in  India  which  contains  so  many  varieties 
of  the  human  race.  Here  were  found  the  Arab,  the  Sikh, 
the  Rohilla,  the  Pathan,  the  Afghan,  the  Rajpoot,  the 
Persian,  tlie  Turk,  and  even  the  Chinaman. 

The  Methodist  Mission  was  opened  in  March,  1886, 
by  the  appointment  of  S.  P.  Jacobs  and  wife  to  this  new 
field.  It  soon  became  evident  that  in  opening  amission 
liere  the  path  lay  along  the  line  of  school  work  among 
the  Marathi  Brahmans.  Accordingly,  an  Anglo-Mara- 
thi  School  was  begun  in  the  British  Residency  bazaar. 
This   opened    a   promising   field   of  labor   among    the 


South  India  Conference,  1886- 189 2.  137 

patrons  of  the  school.  Distribution  of  tracts  and  Script- 
ural portions  and  personal  visitations  were  entered  upon 
at  once. 

The  missionaries  now  reported  that  the  school  in  the 
British  Residency  bazaar  had  75  scholars  under  the  in- 
struction of  5  teachers  ;  of  these,  2  taught  Marathi  and  i 
English;  i  Marathi,  i  Gujurathi,  and  i  Urdu.  Two 
Brahman  girls  and  three  little  Parsee  girls  attended 
school.  Thus  began  a  breach  into  old  customs.  Script- 
ure lessons  were  daily  read  by  the  more  advanced 
scholars. 

Soon  after  opening  the  above  school,  an  invitation  came 
from  the  large  Marathi  community  in  the  distant  part  of 
the  city  of  Hyderabad  to  open  a  similar  school  there. 
At  this  time  Sir  Salar  Jung  was  prime  minister  to  His 
Highness,  the  Nizam.  He  made  a  donation  from  his  own 
purse,  and  also  subscribed  a  liberal  sum  on  behalf  of  the 
Nizam's  government.  The  prime  minister  ordered  the 
accountant  general  and  his  private  treasurer  to  pay  these 
sums  respectively  "  in  aid  of  the  Methodist  Mission 
Anglo-Vernacular  School  in  the  city  of  Hyderabad, 
started  by  the  Rev.  S.  P.  Jacobs,  Superintendent."  This 
prompt  action  of  the  prime  minister — a  Mohammedan 
nobleman  of  English  education  and  liberal  spirit — not 
only  furnished  the  means  to  carry  on  the  school  for 
several  months,  but  also  gave  government  authority  to 
open  and  continue  such  a  school  within  the  city  walls. 
Thus  was  solved  at  once  the  difficult  problem  how  to 
get  into  the  city  of  Hyderabad,  hitherto  barred  against 
Christianity.  Of  this  noble  act  of  Sir  Salar  Jung,  and  for 
other  favors  from  him,  we  shall  ever  have  a  grateful  re- 
membrance. 

The  school  in  the  city  of  Hyderabad  opened  January, 


138  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

1887,  with  22  boys.  Now  there  were  93,  under  4  teach- 
ers ;  one  a  Mohammedan  teaching  Urdu,  the  other  two 
Brahmans  teaching  Marathi.  The  head-master  taught 
Marathi  and  English.  These  were  fine  men.  In  the 
state  of  public  opinion  in  the  city  of  Hyderabad  to  open 
a  school  with  Christian  teachers  was  an  impossibility. 
With  the  aid  of  the  head-master,  a  Brahman  of  liberal 
mind,  educated  in  a  mission  school,  a  man  of  unusually 
chaste  character,  Mr.  Jacobs  gave  Bible  lessons.  There 
were  10  Mohammedan  pupils.  They  had  a  good  house, 
furniture,  everything  necessary,  excep  tsufificient  money, 
to  make  the  school  a  success.  Donations  from  native 
gentlemen  were  the  chief  reliance,  and  only  a  few  of 
these  dared  to  contribute  to  support  a  mission  school. 

The  Rev.  A.  W.  Rudisill,  Presiding  Elder  of  Madras 
District,  said  :  "  The  recent  division  of  the  South  India 
Conference  did  not  alter  the  boundary  lines  of  the 
Madras  District.  While  nominally  it  covers  a  vast  area, 
stretching  from  Madras  to  Hyderabad,  it  is,  in  fact,  two 
distinct  territories,  one  of  which  lies  wholly  within  the 
Nizam's  dominions  ;  the  other  is  situated  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  India.  There  is  also  a  political  distinc- 
tion. The  latter  is  governed  directly  by  the  English, 
while  the  former  is  one  of  the  native  States  of  Her  Maj- 
esty's empire,  and  is  ruled  by  His  Highness,  the  Nizam. 
The  south-eastern  part  of  Madras  District  includes 
the  Presidency  City  and  Bangalore.  Rich  and  inviting 
fields  lie  ready  to  be  entered  and  occupied  for  the 
Master." 

Last  year  J.  Alnutt,  Esq.,  and  his  sister  contributed 
$500  toward  purchasing  material  for  a  printing  office  ; 
other  friends  contributed  over  $100,  and  the  Tract  So- 
ciety gave  a  donation  of  $250.     This,  with  money  al- 


South  India  Conference,  1886-1892.  139 

ready  earned  by  the  ofifice  and  collected  in  India, 
enabled  them  to  i)urchase  a  ])lant  and  stock  worth  nearly 
4,000  rupees.  With  the  excei)tion  of  the  Church  of  En- 
gland press,  which  was  entirely  controlled  by  ritualists, 
there  was  no  mission  press  in  Madras.  The  undertaking 
was  heartily  encouraged  by  all  the  missions,  and  there  was 
every  prospect  of  establishing  at  no  distant  day  a  large 
and  flourishing  publishing  house. 

The  Tract  Society  gave  an  additional  grant  of  $250  to 
print  the  ritual  of  the  Church  and  some  of  Mr.  Wesley's 
sermons  in  Tamil.  The  Sunday-School  Union  appro- 
priated $100  for  printing  in  Tamil  the  Berean  Lesson 
Leaf  and  Scripture  cards.  Over  400,000  pages  in  Tamil 
were  printed  within  the  past  eight  months. 

When  the  thirteenth  session  of  the  South  India  Con- 
ference convened  in  Bombay,  January  31  to  February 
5,  1889,  it  found  itself  under  the  presidency  of  J.  M. 
Thoburn,  whom  the  General  Conference  of  May,  1888, 
had  elected  and  ordained  Missionary  Bishop  of  India 
and  Malaysia.  Bishop  Fowler  was  present,  visiting 
India  on  his  return  from  his  official  tour  among  the 
missions  of  eastern  Asia.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  had  sent  to  the  field  Miss  Mary  E.  Car- 
roll, Miss  J.  Ernsberger,  M.D.,  and  Miss  Mary  Moxey. 

The  Conference  had  found  large  opportunities  for 
extension  of  its  work  under  the  new  policy  of  receiving 
"  Grant-in-Aid  "  appropriations  from  home,  but  unfort- 
unately the  pressure  on  the  missionary  treasury  did  not 
enable  the  home  Church  to  give  such  financial  aid  as 
the  case  required.  There  was  no  help  for  it ;  the  Con- 
ference was  obliged  to  project  only  modest  plans  for  ad- 
vance. 

In   the  Marathi  country,  which  was  wholly  embraced 


I40  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

within  the  Bombay  District,  there  were  more  Brahmans 
in  proportion  to  population  tlian  in  any  other  part  of 
India,  and  the  work  of  evangelization  generally  moves 
somewhat  slowly  in  that  part  of  the  empire. 

The  most  notable  occurrence  during  the  year  was  the 
death  of  the  venerable  Rev.  George  Bowen,  which  oc- 
curred February  5,  1888.  It  is  not  possible  rightly  to 
estimate  the  loss  which  the  Church  of  Christ  in  India, 
and  particularly  India  Methodism,  sustained  in  the 
translation  of  this  remarkable  man  of  God.  For  forty 
years  he  witnessed  a  good  confession  before  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Bombay — the  last  sixteen  in  connection  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopnl  Church.  Abundant  in  labors,  of 
versatile  talents,  and  gifted  intellectually  above  many, 
he  shone  conspicuously  as  a  faithful  embassador  for 
Christ.  With  voice  and  pen  he  unfolded  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  Christ  to  Europeans  and  natives,  by 
whom  he  was  revered  and  esteemed  as  no  other  mis- 
sionary of  his  generation  ;  and  he  greatly  enriched  the 
Church  by  his  splendid  contributions  to  its  devotional 
literature.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Church  in 
America  knows  so  little  of  the  life  history  of  this  unique 
missionary,  whose  profound  humility,  untiring  devotion, 
and  great  attainments  in  Christian  knowledge  and  the 
way  of  holiness  entitle  him  to  rank  among  the  mission- 
ary princes  of  the  century.  No  one  expected  to  see 
another  George  Bowen  in  India,  but  the  Conference 
earnestly  prayed  that  God  would  raise  up  many  to  labor 
for  India's  salvation  on  whom  a  goodly  portion  of  his 
Christ-like  spirit  should  rest,  and  to  whom  his  holy,  self- 
abnegating  life  would  be  a  mighty  incentive  and  a  con- 
stant inspiration. 

George  Bowen  was  born  in  Middlebury,  Vt.,  U.  S.  A., 


South  India   Conference,  1S86-1892.  141 

April  30,  1816.  His  parents  were  of  Welsh  descent, 
and,  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  during  his  young  man- 
hood, were  connected  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  Very  early  he  developed  a  taste  for  literature 
and,  to  the  disappointment  of  his  father,  a  pronounced 
dislike  for  a  commercial  life. 

Up  to  his  twenty-eighth  year  he  was  an  avowed  dis- 
believer in  Christianity.  Driven  out  of  atheism,  he  took 
refuge  in  deism,  strongly  maintaining  the  impossibility  of 
the  Creator  revealing  himself  to  mankind.  By  a  remark- 
able chain  of  providential  interpositions,  he  was  at  length 
led  to  make  a  patient,  protracted  examination  of  Christian 
evidences,  which  resulted  in  his  being  fully  persuaded 
that  the  gospels  were  a  faithful  record  of  events  that 
had  really  taken  place  in  accordance  with  predictions 
made  to  the  Jews  centuries  before.  The  Bible,  then, 
was  a  revelation  from  God!  At  once  he  abandoned 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  New  Testament.  Early  in 
April,  1844,  he  yielded  himself  unreservedly  to  Christ, 
passing  out  of  death  into  life  and  becoming  a  trans- 
formed, happy  child  of  God  through  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

Within  three  or  four  weeks  he  had  fully  formed  the 
purpose  of  becoming  a  foreign  missionary,  which  at  that 
time,  and  in  America,  especially,  meant  far  more  than  it 
does  now.  Judicious  friends  advised  him  to  take  a 
theological  course  before  going  abroad.  He  did  so,  tak- 
ing advantages  of  all  opportunities  of  work  while  a  stu- 
dent at  Union  Seminary,  spending  his  vacations  in  col- 
portage  work  in  needy  country  districts,  and  proving 
himself  a  spiritual  leader  among  his  fellow-students. 

Having  been  duly  accepted  and  appointed  by  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 


142  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

he  sailed,  July,  1847,  ^^'^'^  reached  India  January  19, 
1848.  He  at  once  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  ver- 
nacular with  his  usual  diligence,  and  made  rapid  prog- 
ress. From  the  very  first  his  mind  was  busily  occupied 
with  the  various  problems  connected  with  and  arising 
from  the  prosecution  of  missionary  work  in  a  heathen 
land.  His  earnest  desire  was  that  the  gulf  between  the 
natives  and  the  missionaries  might,  in  some  way,  be 
bridged.  Believing  that  a  practical  and  effective  way 
of  accomplishing  this  would  be  to  live  among  the 
natives  in  the  simplest  jjossible  style  in  order  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  unworldliness  of  motives  and  disin- 
terestedness of  aim  by  which  missionaries  are  actuated, 
he  resigned  his  missionary  salary  and  took  up  his  abode 
in  the  heart  of  the  native  community,  supporting  him- 
self by  teaching  in  a  private  family. 

In  1S49  he  resigned  his  salary  and  adopted  native 
modes  of  dress  and  living,  repaired  to  the  center  of  the 
native  population  to  reside,  and  reduced  his  expendi- 
tures to  a  merely  nominal  sum.  In  1855  he  resigned 
his  connection  with  the  Missionary  Society,  the  Ameri- 
can Board,  and  continued  as  an  independent  missionary 
till  1872,  when  he  joined  the  South  India  Conference, 
of  which  he  was  three  times  elected  president.  From 
1854  to  1886  he  edited  the  "Bombay  Guardian."  His 
"  Life  of  Mohammed,"  "  The  Aniens  of  Christ,"  "  Daily 
Meditations,"  and  a  dozen  other  titles  witness  to  his 
literary  activity. 

As  a  missionary,  his  career  was  altogether  unique. 
While  all  admired  the  spirit  that  animated  him  in  adopt- 
ing the  style  of  living  which  he  clung  to,  and  had  the 
profoundest  confidence  in  the  purity  and  sincerity  of  his 
motives,  few  regarded   his  course  as  wise.     The   appar- 


South  India  Confer eticc,  1 886-1 892.  1 43 

ent  lack  of  success  that  followed  his  labors  among  the 
natives,  strengthened  the  conviction  of  many  that  his  ex- 
ample in  this  particular  respect  was  not  one  that  com- 
mended itself  to  missionaries  in  general  for  widespread 
imitation.  Mr.  Bowen  was  not  discouraged  by  failure 
to  realize  his  expectations  of  large  fruit  of  his  labors. 
For  well-nigh  twoscore  years  he  said  he  had  found  a 
hiding-place  in  the  forty-ninth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  the 
verse  of  which  reads  :  "  Then  I  said,  I  have  labored  in 
vain,  I  have  spent  my  strength  for  naught,  and  in  vain : 
yet  surely  my  judgment  is  with  the  Lord,  and  my  work 
[margin,  reheard]  with  my  God."  But,  while  the  actual 
conversions  that  directly  resulted  from  his  labors  were 
not  at  all  commensurate  with  his  own  anticipations — 
nor  on  the  scale  that  would  be  supposed  to  attend  the 
efforts  of  one  so  devoted,  unselfish,  and  able — it  w^ould 
be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  even  in  this  respect 
his  missionary  career  had  been  without  direct  fruit. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  not  a  few  natives  were  led 
to  Christ  through  his  personal  agency,  and  many  Euro- 
peans and  Eurasians  were  awakened  and  converted  un- 
der his  preaching.  But  it  was  as  a  pastor  and  teacher, 
a  shepherd,  a  feeder  of  the  Lord's  flock,  that  Mr.  Bowen 
excelled,  and  that  the  Lord  specially  used  him.  He 
himself  said  :  "  My  passion  is  for  winning  souls,  but  it 
does  not  please  the  Lord  to  use  me  in  that  way."  The 
Lord  did  use  him  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  unto 
the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the  building  up  of  the 
body  of  Christ,"  not  only  locally  through  his  oral  teach- 
ing, but  throughout  the  whole  land,  and  also  in  other 
lands,  by  means  of  his  additional  writings  and  published 
works  of  meditation  and  interpretation. 

Though  making  no  pretensions  to  eloquence  or  ora- 


144  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tory,  Mr.  Bowen  was  a  forcible  preacher  of  righteousness. 
He  was  also  a  model  pastor,  his  pastoral  work  both 
among  Europeans  and  natives  being  truly  of  the  apostolic 
order. 

Bishop  Thoburn  again  j)resided  at  the  fourteentli 
session  of  the  Conference — January  30-February  3, 
1890,  at  Hyderabad.  The  Gujerati  Mission,  now  one 
year  old,  was  among  the  two  hundred  thousand  Gujerati- 
speaking  people  in  the  Bombay  District.  It  started 
with  two  men  ;  one,  a  Kobiri,  or  priest,  had  been  led  to 
Christ  by  reading  the  New  Testament  and  Christian 
tracts.  The  Bishop  Taylor  High  School  at  Poona  had 
received  a  grant  of  10,000  rupees  from  the  government. 

Mrs.  Rudisill  died  July  7,  after  two  years  of  great 
suffering,  leaving  the  testimony  of  a  beautifully  sym- 
metrical Christian  life.  Dr.  Rudisill  left  for  America 
August  22. 

The  fifteenth  session  of  the  South  India  Conference, 
at  Bangalore,  January  29-February  2,  1891,  was  held  by 
Bishop  Thoburn.  Bombay  District  had  now  186,000 
rupees'  worth  of  property,  gradually  acquired  during 
fourteen  years.  Of  this  only  ^6,100  was  received  from 
the  Missionary  Society ;  the  rest  was  contributed  in 
India.  While  the  native  work  was  being  pushed  in  all 
possible  directions,  all  felt  the  relative  importance  of 
the  English  work.  These  English  churches  furnished 
substantial  help  to  the  native  work. 

Miss  Anstey  now  made  over  her  orphanage  at  Kolar 
to  the  entire  control  and  ownership  of  the  Conference. 

The  Woman's  Missionary  Conference  held  its  sixth 
annual  session  at  Bangalore,  January  20—22,  1891,  Mrs. 
Denning,  of  Poona,  being  elected  president. 

In    Madras    zenanas  Miss    Stephens    had   1,200  who 


South  India  Conference,  1886-1892.  145 

listened  to  Gospel  teaching,  besides  the  190  pupils  en- 
rolled in  150  houses.  The  ladies  took  charge  of  Miss 
Anstey's  work  in  Kolar  August  i,  1890.  A  deaconess 
home  was  opened  in  Bangalore  March  13,  1890. 

Bishop  Thoburn  held  the  sixteenth  session  of  the 
South  India  Conference  at  Poona,  December  17,  1891, 
and  the  seventeenth  session  in  Bombay,  December  22-27, 
1892.  The  Bombay  Conference  having  been  consti- 
tuted, seventeen  preachers  of  this  Conference  were 
transferred  to  that  body,  and  the  territory  of  the  South 
India  Conference  was  reduced  to  the  Hyderabad  and. 
Madras  Districts.  At  the  close  of  1891  the  South  India 
,  Conference  had  :  Foreign  missionaries,  23  ;  assistants, 
21  ;  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  15  ;  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  native  workers,  17  ;  ordained  native 
workers,  8  ;  unordained,  29  ;  native  teachers,  74  ;  other 
teachers,  59;  members,  903;  probationers,  319;  ad- 
herents, 1,546  ;  average  attendance  of  Sunday  worship, 
2,326  ;  Sunday-school  scholars,  7,663.  It  raised  for 
pastoral  support  34,128  rupees. 

The  seventh  annual  session  of  the  Woman's  Confer- 
ence, South  India,  was  held  in  Poona,  December  17-19, 
1891,    Miss    Abrams    being    elected    president.     Miss  > 
Louisa  Haefer  and  Miss  Mary  Kennedy  arrived  from 
America. 

The  eighteenth  session  of  the  Conference,  with  Bisliop 
Thoburn  in  the  chair,  was  held  December  21-25,  1893, 
at  Poona. 

The  Woman's  Conference,  held  at  Bombay  December 
22-27,  1892,  was  presided  over  by  Mrs.  R.  S.  Baker. 
Miss  Catherine  Wood  arrived  from  America.  Mrs.  W, 
L.  King,  of  Madras,  editor  of  the  Tamil  "  Woman's 
Friend,"   was   obliged  to   return   to  America,  and  Miss 


146  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Stevens  was  appointed  editor  in  her  stead.  The  Con- 
ference recommended  the  estabhshment  of  deaconess 
homes  in  India  where  necessity  might  indicate. 

88.  Publishing  House  in  Madras. 

In  1885  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Rudisill  began  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Publishing  House  in  Madras,  India,  in  a 
room  eight  by  ten  feet.  The  plant  consisted  of  a  boy's 
press,  which  printed  a  leaflet  four  by  six  inches,  and  a 
small  font  of  Tamil  type.  It  slowly  develojjed  into  a 
publishing  house  with  a  plant,  including  two  lots  and  a 
building  situated  on  Mount  Road,  the  Fifth  Avenue  of 
Madras,  worth  $30,000.  Work  was  being  done  in  the 
Canarese,  Tamil,  Telugu,  English,  and  Deccan-Hindu- 
stani  languages.  The  property  in  fee  simple,  with  a 
title  made  secure  by  the  High  Court  of  Madras,  was 
owned  by  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

The  earliest  contributions  came  from  many  persons. 
James  W.  Alnutt,  Esq.,  and  his  sister,  Miss  Elizabeth 
J.  Alnutt,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  gave  $200  to  purchase  a 
"  printing  outfit."  These  kind  friends  added  $300  more 
in  1887.  After  some  months  a  long,  narrow  building, 
located  on  the  Vepery  church  property,  was  rented,  and 
the  plant  moved  into  it  and  a  binding  department 
added,  which  was  soon  binding  Bibles  and  portions  of 
Scripture  by  the  bullock  cart  load. 

In  1888  the  Rev.  D.  O.  Ernsberger,  missionary  to  the 
Canarese,  seeing  the  pressing  need  of  tracts  and  books 
for  the  Canarese-speaking  people  of  southern  India, 
collected  $265  to  add  that  vernacular  to  our  press.  The 
same  year  Rev.  S.  P.  Jacobs,  ]\I.A.,  missionary  at 
Hyderabad,   Deccan,  collected  $2,261.95.     Among  the 


Publishhig  House  in  Madras.  147 

donors  of  this  amount  was  Bishop  William  Taylor, 
Africa,  $ioo.  The  founder  of  our  work  in  all  southern 
India  well  knew  the  great  need  of  a  mission  press. 
Also  Mrs.  J.  H.  Stevens,  of  Manchester,  la.,  gave  $i,ooo 
to  purchase  a  cylinder  printing  machine  as  a  memorial 
to  her  son,  N.  H.  Stevens. 

Deccan-Hindustani  was  also  added  to  the  vernacular 
printed,  so  that  at  the  close  of  1888  over  thirty  hands 
were  employed,  printing  was  done  in  five  languages,  and 
a  binding  department  was  in  full  operation.  During  a 
great  part  of  this  year  the  Rev.  George  W.  Isham  ren- 
dered efficient  service  as  associate  agent. 

In  1889  Mrs.  Rudisill  passed  to  her  heavenly  inherit- 
ance. For  some  time  Mr.  Rudisill's  own  health  had 
been  shattered,  and  he  was  ordered  home  by  liis  physi- 
cian. His  health  was  slow  in  returning,  but  in  1891  he 
felt  that  he  had  a  further  work  to  do  for  the  mission 
press  at   Madras. 

In  1S92  he  presented  and  explained  to  Bishop  Tho- 
burn,  Dr.  J.  O.  Peck,  Missionary  Secretary,  and  Dr. 
Parker  a  plan  whereby  the  plant  and  efficiency  of  the 
Madras  Publishing  House  could  be  greatly  increased. 
It  met  with  their  approval.  The  proposed  plan  em- 
braced everything  needed  to  do  the  whole  round  of 
work  in  a  modern  publishing  house.  To  carry  it  out 
competent  persons  must  go  to  India  and  teach  natives 
the  various  branches  to  be  introduced  ;  otherwise  the 
undertaking  would  have  no  practical  value.  In  addition 
$25,000  was  needed  to  purchase  the  plant  and  a  suitable 
building. 

By  a  unanimous  rising  vote  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference expressed,  their  judgment  that  the  Madras 
press,  with  the  fullest  possible  equipment,  should  stand 


148  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

as  a  memorial  to  Mrs.  Mary  M.  Rudisill,  "  whose  prayers 
and  faith  in  no  small  degree  inspired  its  foundation, 
whose  culture  and  Christian  zeal  gave  through  it  to  the 
women  of  India  "  Mathar  Mithire  "  ("The  Woman's 
Friend  "  in  Tamil),  and  whose  devotion  to  Christ  and 
the  salvation  of  India  stayed  not  until  to  all  other  sacri- 
fices was  added  that  of  life  itself." 

In  1893  Howard  S.  Jefferson,  Esq.,  a  photo-engraver  of 
Baltimore,  a  Sunday-school  teacher  and  active  member 
of  Grace  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  that  city,  sold 
out  his  lucrative  business  for  the  sole  purpose  of  teach- 
ing Hindus  photo-engraving,  and  thus  make  it  part  of 
the  work  of  the  Madras  Publishing  House. 

John  Hewitt  Stephens,  Esq.,  Chief  of  the  Consulting 
Engineers,  Public  Works  Department,  of  her  majesty's 
empire  in  India,  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  instruct- 
ing natives  in  the  finer  kinds  of  art  work,  such  as  stained 
and  painted  cathedral  glnss  work.  His  workmen  had, 
under  his  teaching,  received  gold  medals  and  numbers 
of  certificates  from  the  Fine  Arts  Association  under  the 
patronage  of  Lords  Wenlock  and  Conemara,  the  late 
and  present  governors   of  Madras. 

The  property  and  plant  are  composed  of  the  follow- 
ing : 

1.  The  "  James  W.  Alnutt  Memorial  Lots,"  two  hun- 
dred by  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  fee  simple,  with  a 
title  made  good  by  the  High  Court  of  Madras.  They 
are  called  the  "James  W.  Alnutt  Memorial  Lots" 
in  memory  of  the  late  James  W.  Alnutt,  Esq.,  of  Balti- 
more, whose  sister,  Miss  Elizabeth  J.  Alnutt,  contrib- 
uted, in  addition  to  gifts  previously  given  by  herself  and 
brother,  sufficient  to  purchase  the  lots. 

2.  The  New  Building,  forty  by  one  hundred  and  thirty 


Publishing  House  in  Madras.  1 49 

feet,  with  a  three-story  front,  all  built  in  brick,  with  gran- 
ite capping,  terra  cotta  ornaments,  iron  and  tile  roofing, 
iron  girders,  and  cement  flooring. 

3.  A  Binding  Department,  equipped  with  modern  ma- 
chinery. In  this  department  there  are  eight  machines, 
the  gift  of  the  inventor,  Ezra  T.  Hazeltine,  Esq.,  of 
Warren,  Pa.,  which  have  a  capacity  to  fold,  paste,  cut, 
and  put  covers  on  one  hundred  thousand  booklets  per 
day. 

4.  An  Envelope  Making  Plant.  The  best  make  of 
machines  in  use. 

5.  The  Composing  Department.  A  complete  set  of 
type  for  doing  job  and  book  work  in  the  Deccan-Hin- 
dustani,  English,  Kanarese,  Tamil,  and  Telugu  lan- 
guages. 

6.  The  Printing  Department,  comprising  hand  print- 
ing presses,  job  presses,  printing  machines,  one  of  which 
is  the  celebrated  Hoe  stop  cylinder,  specially  adapted 
for  half-tone  wofk. 

7.  The  "  Mrs.  Rebecca  Buckingham  Memorial  Photo- 
engraving Department."  It  is  called  the  "  Mrs.  Rebecca 
Buckingham  Memorial  "  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Rebecca 
Buckingham,  the  deceased  wife  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Bucking- 
ham, of  York,  Pa.,  whose  children  contributed  toward 
the  establishment  of  that  department. 

8.  The  Electrotyping  Department,  comprising  the 
best  machines,  and  with  a  capacity  for  work  equal  to 
any  in  the  United  States. 

9.  The  Stereopticon  Department,  comprising  a  com- 
plete plant  for  the  manufacture  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen 
and  lantern  slides.  The  object  of  this  department  is  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  natives  in  their  own  languages. 
Instead  of  using  "stock  slides"  new  ones  will  be  con- 


150  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

stantly  made,  gospelizing  scenes  and  incidents  peculiar 
to  India. 

10.  Electrical  Department,  comprising  a  plant  for 
lighting  the  publishing  house  and  to  enable  the  photo- 
engraving department  during  the  long  and  rainy  sea- 
sons to  work  without  sunshine.  Also  for  a  system  of 
storage  batteries  by  which,  during  the  heathen  festivals 
when  we  give  illustrated  sermons  in  the  interior  of  India, 
we  may  brilliantly  illuminate  booths  where  we  will  sell 
the  sermons  shown  by  the  stereopticon. 

39.  Bengal  Conference,  1884-1892. 

The  General  Conference  of  May,  1884,  passed  an  en- 
abling act  authorizing  the  division  of  the  South  India 
Conference,  and  with  the  concurrence  of  Bishop  Ninde, 
February  21,  1887,  the  Committee  on  Boundaries  re- 
ported to  the  Central  Conference  session  in  Bombay, 
defining  the  Bombay  Conferenceas  "consisting  of  Bengal 
and  the  portions  of  India  not  included  in  the  North  and 
South  India  Conferences  with  Burma  and  the  Straits 
Settlement."  Thus  the  South  India  Conference,  the 
"  cradle  of  unnumbered  associations,"  was  divided  in 
the  interim  between  two  annual  sessions. 

January  13,  1888,  the  members  in  territory  within 
the  boundary  of  Bengal  Conference  met  for  their 
first  session  to  organize  their  Conference.  Rev.  C.  P. 
Hard,  Secretary  of  the  preceding  session  of  the  South 
India  Conference,  called  the  members  to  order.  It  was 
found  that  the  following  were  members  of  tliis  Confer- 
ence :  Dennis  Osborne,  Clark  P.  Hard,  T.  E.  F.  Mor- 
ton, C.  W.  De  Souza,  J.  P.  Meik,  A.  S.  E.  Vardon,  A. 
Cilruth,  E.  Jeffries,  F.  J.  Blewitt,  J.  M.  Thoburn,  Jr., 
W.   F.    Oldham,  A.  G.    Creamer,   C.    M.  Miller,  F.    L. 


Bengal  Conference,  1 884-1 892.  151 

M'Coy,  J.  D.  Webb  ;  probationers,  C.  H.  Plomer,  S.  P. 
Long,  W.  A.  Carroll,  F.  D.  Newhouse,  E.  S.  Busby,  M. 
Tindale,  and  S.  N.  Das.  Frank  W.  Warne,  of  Rock 
River  Conference,  and  Robert  H.  Craig,  of  Minnesota 
Conference,  were  transferred  to  this  Conference. 

In  the  absence  of  a  bishop  the  Conference  elected 
the  Rev.  Dennis  Osborne  president. 

The  Woman's  Missionary  Conference,  organized  the 
following  day,  gives  the  following  list  of  missionary 
women  :  Mrs.  C.  C.  Hedrick,  Mrs.  C.  P.  Hard,  Mrs.  J. 
P.  Meik,  Mrs.  F.  W.  Blewitt,  Mrs.  F.  L.  M'Coy,  Miss 
Files. 

The  boundaries  of  the  Conference  were  determined 
more  on  the  basis  of  possible  means  of  communication 
than  of  geographical  lines.  A  long  line  of  railway  ex- 
tends from  Peshawar,  the  gateway  of  Central  Asia,  west 
of  the  Indus,  to  Calcutta.  Beyond  Calcutta  a  steamship 
line  extends  along  the  coast  to  Singapore  in  the  Straits 
Settlements.  The  Bengal  Conference  thus  geograph- 
ically had  a  base  line  four  thousand  three  hundred  miles 
between  extreme  points. 

Important  action  was  had  respecting  Pakur  property 
which  the  government  had  offered  to  sell  to  the  mission 
for  18,000  rupees,  for  mission  premises  and  native  orphan- 
age. The  Conference  now  decided  to  accept  the  proposal, 
anticipating  that  3,000  rupees  could  be  raised  locally 
and  15,000  in  America.  They  also  approved  the  pro- 
posal to  establish  an  English  orphanage  at  Pakur  along 
with  the  native  orphanage. 

In  Calcutta  J.  M.  Thoburn,  Jr.,  pastor,  reported  that 
of  a  score  of  Christian  churches  in  that  city  the  largest 
congregation  was  that  of  the  Dhurrumtollah  Street 
Church,    now    fourteen    years     old,    having    a    motley 


152  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

throng,  scarcely  any  being  by  birth  a  Methodist.  There 
was  sailors'  work  at  No.  19  Lall  Bazaar,  two  schools  for 
English  and  Eurasian  children,  a  publishing  house  issu- 
ing a  million  and  a  half  pages  a  year,  besides  two  peri- 
odicals, the  "  Indian  Witness  "  and  "Woman's  Friend," 
in  Bengali.  There  was  a  separate  Bengali  mission  and 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  work. 

C.  P.  Hard,  Presiding  Elder  of  Ajmere  District,  had 
to  travel  one  thousand  six  hundred  miles  to  make  the 
circuit  of  his  appointments — the  nearest  Methodist  min- 
ister to  Ajmere  was  615  miles  west  in  Bombay,  320  miles 
south  at  Mhow,  234  east  at  Agra,  and  517  miles  north  at 
Lahore.  The  Presiding  Elder  in  his  report  said  :  "At 
the  Conference  held  in  Madras  in  February  any  special 
advance  in  native  work  was  not  anticipated  for  Ajmere." 

Mhow  is  a  railway  center  on  the  great  plateau  of  Cen- 
tral India,  three  miles  from  Vindhya  Mountains,  with  a 
population  of  twenty-seven  thousand  and  a  large  mili- 
tary force.  Indore,  the  capital  of  the  great  rajah  Holkar, 
is  an  hour's  ride  by  train  away.  The  seventy-eight  Wcs- 
leyan  soldiers  fell  to  the  care  of  the  mission.  Burham- 
pore  and  Khandwa  were  also  important  stations. 

The  Rev.  W.  F.  Oldham  was  Presiding  Elder  of  the 
Burma  District,  which  comprised  territory  from  Tonghoo 
to  Rangoon,  and  thence  to  Singapore.  At  Tonghoo 
there  was  a  Tamil  mission  with  some  English  work. 
Rangoon  had  a  Seamen's  Rest,  a  Burmese  mission,  and 
a  girls'  school  under  Miss  Wisner. 

The  second  session  of  the  Bengal  Conference  met  at 
Allahabad,  January  17-21,  1889,  Bishop  Thoburn  pre- 
siding. When  the  name  of  James  M.  Thoburn  was 
reached  in  the  roll  call  the  Secretary,  F.  L.  M'Coy, 
formally   announced    his    elevation   to  the    episcopacy. 


Bengal  Conference^  1884-1892.  153 

Bishop  Fowler  was  introduced  and  addressed  the  Con- 
ference. Mrs.  Ray  Allen  had  died  during  the  year. 
The  districts  and  their  Presiding  Elders  now  were  : 
Ajmere,  C.  P.  Hard;  Burma,  S.  P.  Long;  Calcutta,  F. 
L.  M'Coy  ;  Mussoorie,  D.  Osborne.  Besides  the  min- 
isters' wives,  were  the  ladies  of  the  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society:  Miss  J.  E.  Wisner  and  Miss 
M.  E.  Files,  to  Rangoon  ;  Miss  M.  C.  Hedrick,  Miss  M- 
E.  Day,  Miss  H.  Mansell  ;  deaconess,  Miss  Elizabeth 
Maxey.  Miss  Kate  A.  Blair,  and  Miss  Lillian  R.  Black, 
Calcutta,  had  arrived  January,  1888. 

The  following  were  transferred  to  this  Conference  :  P. 
M.  Buck,  from  North  India;  W.  N.  Brewster,  from  Cin- 
cinnati ;  Henry  Jackson,  from  New  York  ;  C.  A.  Gray, 
from  Ohio  ;  and  A.  G.  Creamer  was  transferred  to  Kansas 
Conference  ;  Ray  Allen,  to  Genesee  ;  L.  R.  Janney,  to 
Southwest  Kansas;  J.  M.  Thoburn,  Jr.,  to  Erie;  W.  A. 
Carroll,  to  Baltimore.  The  Conference  subscribed  11,150 
rupees  toward  the  debt  of  the  press  at  Calcutta.  The  Ma- 
laysian Peninsula  having  been  made  a  separate  mission, 
and  W.  F.  Oldham  appointed  its  Superintendent,  the 
Conference  expressed  in  resolution  its  appreciation  of 
Mr.  Oldham. 

Work  had  been  begun  during  the  year  by  A.  Gilruth 
at  Deobund,  a  purely  native  city  of  thirty  thousand  in- 
habitants, in  Saharanpure  political  district.  Deobund  is 
one  of  the  strongholds  of  Mohammedan  propagandists, 
with  an  Arabic  college,  having  boarding  students  from 
all  parts  of  India  and  from  Aden.  Interpretations  of 
Mohammedan  laws  and  traditions  are  given  here  whose 
authority  is  acknowledged  by  the  entire  Moslem  com- 
munity. 

The   third    session   of   the  Conference    convened  in 


154  Mkthodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Calcutta,  January  9,  1890.  Bishop  Thoburn  trans- 
ferred to  this  Conference  :  Lewis  A.  Core,  of  AVest  Vir- 
ginia Conference  ;  William  R.  Clancy,  North  India ; 
Antone  Dutt  and  Homer  C.  Stuntz,  South  India  Con- 
ference. R.  H.  Craig  was  transferred  to  Minne- 
sota ;  C.  M.  Miller,  to  Pittsburg  ;  and  F.  W.  Warne, 
to  North  India  Conference.  Mrs.  Hopkins,  wife  of 
Rev.  G.  F.  Hopkins,  "  a  lady  of  devoted  and  lovely  char- 
acter," had  gone  to  her  reward.  By  change  in  boundaries 
made  by  a  Joint  Committee,  January,  1890,  Allahabad 
English  church  was  transferred  to  North  India;  and  so 
much  of  the  district  of  Meerut  as  the  bishop  might  ap- 
portion thereunto,  including  the  city  of  Meerut,  was 
transferred  to  the  Bengal  Conference. 

The  Conference  acknowledged  the  further  gift  of 
$5,000  by  Mrs.  A.  M.  Smith,  of  Oak  Park,  III,  to  the 
Philander  Smith  Institute,  Mussborie.  The  Conference 
passed  resolutions  strongly  condemning  the  Indian  Gov- 
ernment's policy  of  licensed  vice.  Miss  Kate  A.  Blair, 
Miss  Mary  Black,  Miss  Mary  E.  Carroll,  Estelle  M. 
Files,  and  Mary  Moxey  were  sent  to  the  field  by  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

The  Ajmere  District  had  sent  this  year  forty  adults  and 
children  to  Bareilly  to  prepare  for  preachers  and  teachers. 
Burma  District  was  extended  by  the  accession  of  Upper 
Burma  to  British  India,  thus  giving  to  this  single  district 
two  hundred  thousand  square  miles  of  territory  and 
about  eight  millions  of  population.  Rangoon  is  the 
third  city  of  commercial  importance  in  the  Indian  em- 
pire, and  in  the  center  of  the  city  the  Church  had  one 
hundred  members  and  thirty-one  probationers  as  the  re- 
sult of  its  nine  years'  occupancy.  The  membership  had 
contributed  this   year  13,000   rupees,  an  average  of  100 


Bengal  Conference^   1884- 1892.  1 55 

rupees  for  each  member  and  probationer.  The  Girls' 
School,  under  Miss  Wisner,  enrolled  235  names.  The 
orphanage  begun  in  1889  had  now  a  suitable  building, 
costing  15,000  rupees,  of  which  4,000  rupees  were  uncan- 
celed, but  5,000  rupees  had  been  raised  for  the  running 
expenses  of  the  institution.  The  deaconesses  had 
charge  of  the  orphans,  and  Miss  Files  with  Miss  Stacey 
the  school  for  girls.  Work  was  established  among  the 
Tamils  and  begun  among  the  Burmese. 

The  Rev.  Frank  Latimer  M'Coy,  Presiding  Elder  of 
the  Calcutta  District,  and  editor  of  the  "  Indian  Wit- 
ness "  at  the  time,  died  February  13,  1889.  He  was 
born  in  Ireland  January  28,  1856.  At  sixteen  years  of 
age  he  went  to  America.  In  1874  he  entered  Mt. 
Union  College,  Ohio.  He  graduated,  however,  at 
Albion  College,  1884.  He  took  post-graduate  courses 
and  secured  his  degree  of  Ph.D.  He  reached  Calcutta 
January  14,  1887,  and  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-three, 
having  accomplished  a  great  work  and  won  the  highest 
esteem  of  all  who  knew  him. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Jackson,  an  experienced  mission- 
ary, formerly  of  North  India,  reported  formally  on 
the  new  station,  Mozaffarpore,  a  city  of  60,000,  an  im- 
portant railway  center,  surrounded  by  a  population  of 
many  millions.  Mrs.  Jackson  had  opened  a  dispensary 
in  her  own  house. 

The  fourth  session  of  the  Bengal  Conference  con- 
vened at  Jabalpur,  January  15-19,  1891,  Bishop  Tho- 
burn  presiding.  The  following  were  transferred  into 
this  Conference  :  James  Lyon,  from  South  India  ;  Julius 
H.  Smith,  from  St.  Louis  Conference  ;  John  E.  Newsom, 
from  Iowa  Conference  ;  A.  T.  Leonard  and  Guru  Diyal 
Spencer    Singh,  from    North   India   Conference ;  J.   C. 


156  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Floyd,  from  Michigan  Conference;  Ernest  A.Bell,  from 
Pittsburg  Conference.  D.  D.  Moore  was  received  on 
credentials.  J.  E.  Newsoni,  Guru  Diyal  Spencer  Singh, 
and  J.  Lyon  were  transferred  to  the  North  India  Confer- 
ence, and  W.  R.  Clancy  to  the  Southern  California  Con- 
ference. The  Malaysia  missionaries  who  held  their 
Conference  relation  with  the  Bengal  Conference  at  this 
time  were  W.  F.  Oldham,  J.  C.  Floyd,  R.  W.  Munson, 
B.  F.  West,  D.  D.  Moore,  William  T.  Kensett,  W.  G. 
Shellabear,  Benjamin  H.  Balderston,  and  W.  N.  Brewster. 
The  latter  was  now  transferred  to  the  •'oochow  Confer- 
ence. Miss  Rebecca  Daly  and  Miss  Frances  Perkins, 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  appointees,  arrived. 
Miss  Fanny  Scott  arrived  in  Rangoon  February  19,  1890. 

The  fourth  session  of  the  Bengal  Woman's  Confer- 
ence was  held  at  Jabalpur,  January  15-20,  1891.  Mrs. 
Dennis  Osborne  president.  Miss  Rebecca  Daly  had 
arrived  for  work  in  Calcutta,  and  Miss  Frances  Perkins 
for  Rangoon.  The  Calcutta  Deaconess  Home,  organ- 
ized two  years  before,  reported  work  in  English,  Ben- 
gali, and  Hindustani.  Mrs.  Warne  was  in  charge  of  the 
Calcutta  Hindustani  Woman's  Home. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  Bengal  Conference  met  in 
Calcutta,  January  14-18,  1892,  under  the  presidency  of 
Bishop  Thoburn.  Thomas  S.  Johnson,  M.D.,  George 
F.  Hopkins,  John  W.  McGregor,  and  Edwin  W.  Farnon 
were  received  by  transfer  from  North  India  Conference. 
Frank  E.  Warner  and  B.  Luther  were  discontinued.  W. 
F.  Oldham  was  trlinsferred  to  Pittsburg  Conference  ; 
Homer  C.  Stuntz  and  Matthew  Tindale  to  North  India 
Conference.  Miss  Mary  Kennedy  arrived  to  reinforce 
the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  workers.  The 
Conference  elected  to  represent  it  in  General  Conference: 


Bengal  Conference,  1 884-1 892.  157 

F.  W.  Warne,  ministerial  delegate  ;  S.  P.  Long,  reserve; 
C.  J.  A.  Pritchard  was  chosen  lay  delegate;  ].^^.  JNIcIn- 
nis,  reserve. 

The  Calcutta  Girls'  School,  Miss  Knowles  i)rincipal, 
concluded  the  fourteenth  year  of  its  successful  history. 
The  Methodist  Publishing  House,  Calcutta,  removed 
"out  of  a  lane  into  a  good  business  street"  near  the 
church.  Bengali  printing  was  vigorously  carried  on, 
3,432,235  pages  of  Christian  literature  were  printed, besides 
1,000,000  pages  of  other  printing. 

The  Conference  formally  requested  that  the  Mission- 
ary Bishop  be  given  the  standing  in  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Committee  accorded  to  the  General  Superintend- 
ents, and  asked  for  a  quadrennial  visit  of  a  Missionary 
Secretary  to  India.  It  also  memorialized  the  General 
Conference  to  provide  for  an  order  of  lay  deacons,  and 
asked  the  Central  Conference  to  recognize  the  order  of 
"Associate  Deaconesses,"  for  those  who  could  devote 
only  a  portion  of  their  time  to  work. 

40.  Bengal-Burina  Conference,  1893-1894. 

The  General  Conference  of  May,  1892,  in  redistribut- 
ing the  territory  of  India  into  five  Conferences,  erected 
the  Bengal-Burma  Conference,  which  it  defined  as  in- 
cluding Bengal,  Bekar,  and  Burma.  This  body  held  its 
first  session  under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  Thoburn 
in  Calcutta,  February  2-6,  1893.  The  following  appoint- 
ments will  indicate  the  territory  and  the  force  which  fell 
within  the  Bengal-Burma  Conference:  Burtna  District — 
Julius  Smith, Presiding  Elder, Rangoon.  Rangoon:  Bur- 
mese Mission,  Henry  Girshom  ;  English  Church,  Julius 
Smith,  John  T.  Robertson  ;  Seamen's  Mission,  to  be  sup- 
plied ;  Tamil  Mission,  supplied  by  Ezra  Peters  ;  Telugu 


158  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Mission,  supplied  by  Robert  E.  Cully.  Tonghoo  Mission, 
supplied  by  S.  Joseph.  Samuel  P.  Long,  Supernumerary. 
Calcutta  District — Frank  W.  Warne  ;  Presiding  Elder, 
Calcutta.  Asansol,  William  P.  Byers.  Calcutta :  En- 
glish Church,  Frank  W.  Warne.  Bengali  Circuit,  Sorba 
Nando  Das,  Ernest  A.  Bell;  Hindustani  Mission,  Charles 
Dowring  ;  Seamen's  Coffee  Room,  supplied  by  George 
Henderson  ;  Boys'  School,  to  be  supplied.  Pakur,  Neils 
Madsen.  Methodist  Publishing  House,  Charles  G. 
Conklin,  Agent.  Bolpore  Mission,  James  P.  Meik. 
Tirhoot  District — Henry  Jackson,  Presiding  Elder, 
Mozaffarpore.  Darbhanga,  sup])lied  by  Matthew.  Mo- 
zaffarpore,  Henry  Jackson,  J.  Roberts  (local  preacher). 
Samastipore  ;  supplied  by  W.  Peter  ;  Village  Work,  to 
be  supplied.  Chapra,  supplied  by  C.  L,  Jacob.  Sit- 
amari,  supplied  by  J.  Peter. 

Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  :  Burma  Dis- 
trict— Rangoon  Girls'  School,  Miss  J.  E.  Wisner,  Miss 
M.  E.  Files.  Orphanage,  Miss  F.  A.  Perkins.  Women's 
Work,  Mrs.  Julius  Smith.  Burmese  Women's  Work, 
Mrs.  Girshom.  Calcutta  District — Asansol:  Girls' School, 
Mrs.  Byers.  Calcutta  :  Girls'  School,  Miss  Emma 
L.  Knowles,  Miss  R.  B.  Daly.  Deaconess  Home, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Maxey,  pastor's  assistant.  Bengali  School, 
Miss  Kate  A.  Blair.  Hindustani  Mission,  Mrs.  F.  W. 
Warne  ;  Work  among  Bengali  Women,  Mrs.  Das  ;  Med- 
ical and  General  Work,  Mrs.  Thoburn  ;  Temperance 
Work,  Mrs.  Conklin.  Seamen's  Work,  Mrs.  Henderson. 
Pakur:  Girls'  School  and  Zenana  Work,  to  be  supplied; 
Girls'  Orphanage,  Mrs.  Warne,  Superintendent.  Bol- 
pore: Bengali  Work,  Mrs.  Meik.  Tirhoot  District — 
Mozaffarpore,  etc.,  Mrs.  H.  Jackson. 

Miss  Frances   Craig  and   Miss  Josephine    Stahl  were 


Bengai-But  ma  Conference,  1893- 1894.  159 

under  appointment  of  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society. 

The  native  force  consisted  of  2  ordained  preachers, 
17  unordained,  22  teachers  ;  the  native  workers  of  W. 
F.  M.  S.,  13.  There  were  other  helpers,  39.  The  mem- 
bership numbered  616  ;  probationers,  797  ;  adherents, 
298.  The  school  work  included  high  schools,  3,  with 
590  pupils;  other dayschools,  38;  pupils,  1,075;  orphans, 
48;  Sabbalh  scholars,  1,508.  The  real  estate  embraced 
churches  and  chapels,  9  ;  value,  146,400  rupees.  Homes, 
9;  value,  70,950  rupees  ;  orphanage  and  school  property, 
105,800  rupees. 

This  new  Conference  rejoiced  in  the  possession  of 
property  worth  more  than  325,000  rupees,  including  Cal- 
cutta Girls'  School.  They  had  just  raised  the  money  to 
begin  to  build  a  boys'  school  at  a  cost  of  140,000  rupees. 
They  estimated  470,000  rupees  would  be  the  worth  of 
their  real  estate  when  the  boys'  building  was  finished; 
the  whole  paid  for  without  Missionary  Society  grants. 

The  Calcutta  English  Church  was  raising  25,000 
rupees  a  year,  as  it  had  done  for  many  years,  for  all  ob- 
jects. The  Pakur  Orphanage  and  other  work  fell  to 
this  Conference,  as  did  the  Methodist  Publishing  House 
in  Calcutta. 

Though  this  Conference  was  the  smallest  Methodist 
Conference  in  the  world,  its  territory  included  one  third  of 
the  people  of  the  Indian  empire — one  hundred  millions. 
The  members  of  the  Conference  were  a  polyglot  com- 
pany, representing  not  less  than  ten  nationalities,  only 
two  of  the  company  having  been  born  in  the  United 
States,  though  more  than  that  number  were  citizens  of 
that  country. 

The  second  session  of  the  Bengal-Burma  Conference 


j6o  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

was  held  in  Calcutta,  February  17-20,  1894,  Bishop  Tho- 
burn  presiding.  The  reports  for  1893  were  very  encourag- 
ing. Bishop  Thoburn  on  Sunday  evening  of  the  Confer- 
ence,addiessing  an  audience, said:  "It  is  just  twenty  years 
ago  to-day  since  I  preached  my  first  sermon  in  Calcutta. 
I  shall  preach  to-night  from  the  same  text  that  I  preached 
from  on  that  occasion,  '  The  God  that  answereth  by  fire, 
let  him  be  God.*  Great  things  had  been  accomplished 
in  these  twenty  years." 

Five  young  men  passed  their  first  year's  studies  in 
Bengali.  Miss  Nellie  Harris  was  appointed  to  the  field 
by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

An  incident  of  a  wholly  unique  character  occurred 
during  the  session  of  the  Conference.  The  Archbishop 
of  Zante,  the  representative  of  the  Greek  Church  to  the 
Parliament  of  Religions,  being  in  Calcutta  on  his  way 
home,  visited  the  Conference.  He  had  traveled  from 
Singapore  with  Bishop  Thoburn  and  learned  much 
of  the  work.  Dr.  Leuring,  of  the  Malaysian  Mission, 
was  on  board  and  talked  with  the  archbishop  in  both 
ancient  and  modern  Greek.  He  had  not  found  another 
man  in  all  his  travels  who  could  converse  with  him  in 
his  own  tongue.  This  fact,  doubtless,  increased  his  in- 
terest, and  he  expressed  a  purpose  to  visit  the  Confer- 
ence. He  came  with  the  Greek  priest  resident  in  Cal- 
cutta, and  received  a  genuine  Methodist  welcome.  The 
archbishop  and  the  priest  sitting  within  the  altar  rail  of 
a  Methodist  church  was  a  scene  to  be  remembered.  He 
spoke  good  English  and  captured  hearts  by  his  frater- 
nal greetings  and  warm  evangelical  spirit.  He  also  re- 
cited Paul's  sermon  on  Mars'  Hill  in  the  ancient  Greek. 
They  sang  "  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again,"  and 
all  marched  by   and   shook  hands  with   the  archbishop. 


Bengal-Burma  Conference^  1 893-1 894.  161 

Bishop  Thoburn  led  him  to  the  door,  when  he  embraced 
the  Bishop  and  kissed  him.  They  exchanged  several 
visits.  No  such  event  had  ever  occurred  before,  and  it 
was  valued  as  a  signal  of  the  drawing  together  of 
Christendom  in  a  Christian  brotherhood. 

Another  unusual  feature  of  this  session  was  the  report 
of  the  "  Methodist  Brotherhood  of  Calcutta."  Among 
the  questions  relating  to  missionary  economics  which 
were  interesting,  more  or  less,  the  Protestant  missionary 
force  of  many  foreign  fields  was  whether  a  class  of  men 
might  not  be  organized  to  live  together, being  unmarried, 
for  a  term  of  years,  and  thus  be  freer  for  sundry  forms 
of  work.  Doubts  were  freely  expressed  whenever  this 
policy  was  suggested,  but  at  the  Bengal-Burma  Confer- 
ence in  1893  the  Methodist  Brotherhood  of  Calcutta 
had  come  into  existence.  The  first  year  of  its  opera- 
tions were  thus  reported:  "  Four  young  unmarried  men 
are  living  together  in  a  common  home  and  engaged 
in  a  common  work.  There  is  no  vow  of  celibacy 
taken  ;  they  live  and  work  together  for  the  sake  of 
economy,  Christian  companionship,  and  mutual  help. 
The  whole  expense,  including  personal  allowance 
and  partial  furnishing  of  their  home,  has  for  the 
eight  months  been  $909.60,  of  which  $732.30  have 
come  from  the  Missionary  Society  of  Boston  University, 
and  from  Mr.  A.  N.  Pierson  and  friends  in  Connecti- 
cut. Their  work  so  far  has  been  study,  especially 
of  the  Bengali  language.  They  have  found  time, 
however,  to  conduct  five  or  six  open-air  services  a 
week,  have  done  some  house-to-house  visiting,  and  led 
some  cottage  prayer  meetings.  Two  of  the  brethren 
have  had  the  pleasure  of  addressing,  from  time  to  time, 
assemblies  of  university  students." 


i62  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

41.  Bombay  Conference,  1892-1894. 

The  rapid  development  of  the  work  and  its  great 
geographical  extent  made  it  necessary  in  1S91  that  the 
South  India  Conference  should  be  again  divided,  and 
the  General  Conference  of  1892  erected  tlie  work  in 
the  Bombay  Presidency,  the  Central  Provinces,  Berars, 
that  portion  of  the  Nizam's  dominions  north  of  the 
Godavery  River,  and  all  Central  India  south  of  the 
twenty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude,  into  the  Bombay  An- 
nual Conference. 

The  ethnological  divisions  of  the  population  of  this 
territory  were  very  complex.  The  languages  which  were 
of  such  prominent  service  as  to  be  entered  in  the  course 
of  studies  for  preachers  were  the  English,  Persian,  Arabic, 
Urdu-Hindustani,  Marathi,  and  Gujerati,  but  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Khandwa  and  many  others  was  essential 
to  efficient  service.  The  Conference  embracetl  great 
cities  like  Bombay,  Poona,  Nagpur,  and  Jabalpur.  The 
Sindh  District  alone  extended  from  Karachi  by  the  sea 
to  Quetta,  on  the  northwest  frontier  of  Baluchistan,  and 
comprised  all  of  Sindh  and  Baluchistan.  This  district 
had  many  populous  towns  on  the  river  Indus,  on  the 
North-western  Railway,  and  in  the  interior,  which  had 
never  had  the  Gospel. 

Pursuant  to  a  call  of  Bishop  Thoburn  the  members 
of  the  South  India  and  Bengal  Conferences,  located  in 
the  territory  described  by  the  General  Conference,  met 
in  Bombay  December  22-27,  1892.  After  a  brief  address 
by  the  Bishop  he  read  the  following  statement : 

"The  last  General  Conference  at  its  session  in  Omaha 
provided  for  the  organization  of  an  Annual  Conference 
out  of  portions  of  the  South  India  and  Bengal  Confer- 


Bombay  Conference,  189  2- 1894.  163 

ences,  to  be  known  as  the  Bombay  Annual  Conference. 
We  are  met  here  to-day  to  give  effect  to  this  action  of 
the  General  Conference  by  formally  organizing  the  new 
body.  I,  therefore,  recognize  the  following  persons  as 
members  and  probationers  of  the  Bombay  Annual  Con- 
ference :  Members — Elders:  Thomas  S.  Johnson,  Daniel 
O.  Fox,  William  E.  Robbins,  Clark  P.  Hard,  John  E. 
Robinson,  George  J.  Stone,  William  W.  Bruere,  William 
H.  Stephens,  Gyanoba  Khandaji,  Algernon  S.  E.  Vardon, 
Thomas  E.  T.  Morton,  Arthur  W.  Prautch,  Clayton  E. 
Ue  Lamater,  Edwin  T.  Frease,  George  F.  Hopkins,  Faw- 
cett  E.  N.  Shaw,  John  O.  Denning,  John  W.  M'Gregor, 
Paul  Singh,  Archibald  G.  Gilruth.  Deacons:  Gangad- 
har  Bhaskar  Kali,  Charles  G.  Elsam.  Probationer: 
William  H.  Grenon. 

"  I  also  announce  the  transfer  to  this  body  of  Horace 
A.  Crane,  an  effective  elder  from  the  North  Nebraska 
Conference,  and  William  E.  L.  Clarke,  an  effective  elder 
from  the  South  India  Conference. 

"  Invoking  the  present  and  abiding  blessing  of  God 
upon  this  new  body,  I  now  declare  the  said  Conference 
to  be  legally  constituted,  and  ready  to  proceed  to  the 
election  of  officers  and  transaction  of  the  business." 

The  Woman's  Conference  was  composed  of  the  fol- 
lowing persons  :  Mrs.  Ernsberger,  Miss  Thompson,  Mrs. 
Frease,  Miss  Kennedy,  Miss  Carroll,  Miss  Lawson,  Mrs. 
Crane,  Mrs.  Stephens,  Mrs.  Park,  Mrs.  Fox,  Mrs.  Bruere, 
Mrs.  Prautch,  Mrs.  Morton,  Mrs.  Johnson,  Mrs  Elsam, 
Mrs.  Vardon,  Mrs.  Grenon,  Mrs.  Denning,  Mrs.  Butter- 
field,  Miss  Nash,  Mrs.  Shaw,  Mrs.  Stone. 

E.  F.  Frease  was  elected  Secretary  and  W.  H.  Ste- 
phens, Assistant  Secretary.  J.  E.  Robinson  was  elected 
Conference    Treasurer.      Provision   was    made    for  the 


164  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

division  of  the  Conference  funds  through  a  committee 
to  act  with  simihir  committees  from  the  Bengal  and 
South  India  Conferences.  Jacob  Peat,  in  America,  was 
elected  to  deacon's  and  elder's  orders,  and  admitted  on 
trial  in  response  to  a  request  by  cablegram  from  Bisliop 
Andrews  in  New  York,  that  he  might  be  ordained  before 
sailing  as  missionary  to  China.  Henry  W.  Butterfield 
was  admitted  on  trial,  and  Albert  E.  Cook  was  trans- 
ferred as  a  probationer  from  Detroit  Conference,  and  he 
was  transferred  again  to  the  South  India  Conference. 

The  reports  of  the  Presiding  Elders  of  the  Bombay, 
Nerbudda  Valley,  and  Sindh  Districts  showed  the  state 
of  the  work.  The  Board  of  Education  had  under  its  super- 
vision the  following  schools,  namely.  The  Taylor  High 
School,  witli  130  enrolled,  57  of  wliom  were  boarders  ; 
the  Marathi  Christian  Boys'  Boarding  School,  Bombay  ; 
Gujarati  Christian  Boys'  School,  Barodi ;  the  Christian 
Training  School,  Narsingpore ;  training  classes  at 
Khandwa  and  Tanna ;  and  schools  in  the  Nerbudda 
Valley  among  new  Christians.  Vernacular  schools  en- 
rolled 1,167  boys,  623  girls.  Anglo-vernacular,  boys, 
372;  girls,  71.    Total,  2,233. 

The  Sunday-schools  numbered  129,  with  4,606  schol- 
ars enrolled,  nearly  one  third  of  whom  were  Christians. 
The  Church  members  numbered  814,  with  probationers 
1,112,  and  38  local  preachers,  making  a  total  of  1,964. 
Churclies,  17,  value  146,568  rupees  ;  parsonages,  13, 
value  88,250  rupees.  Europeans  contributed  15,287  ru- 
pees and  natives  208  rupees.  A  Gujarati  paper,  Surya 
Prakash,  was  published  at  Baroda. 

The  Bowen  Church  at  Bombay  greatly  mourned  the 
necessity  which  removed  from  them  tlieir  most  faithful 
pastor.  Rev.  James  Baume,  who  had  served  in  this  Con- 


Bombay  Conference^  1892-1894.  165 

ference  some  years,  now  compelled  by  ill  health  to  leave 
for  America.  His  edifying  pulpit  ministrations  and  his 
helpfulness  in  all  departments  of  work,  his  wise  counsel, 
mature  judgment,  varied  exi)erience  in  North  India, 
Lucknow,  Nainee  Tal,  and  other  points  in  other  years, 
made  him  a  very  valuable  member  of  the  mission.  At 
Khandwa,  on  the  Nerbudda  Valley  District,  thirty  of 
the  newly  baptized  converts  were  gathered  into  classes, 
five  of  whom  were  taught  in  Khandwa,  the  rest  in  the 
training  school  at  Narsingpore.  There  was  a  Seamen's 
Rest  at  Bombay  and  at  Karachi. 

Miss  Louisa  Haefer,  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society,  was  appointed  to  this  field. 

The  first  annual  session  of  the  Bombay  Woman's 
Missionary  Conference  was  held  December  23,  1892, 
Mrs.  Denning  presiding.  Miss  Abrams  and  Miss  Hard 
were  obliged  through  ill  health  to  relinquish  their  work. 
The  ladies  had  work  in  Bombay  in  zenana,  city  schools, 
and  that  of  Bible  women.  Miss  Soonderbai  Powers,  be- 
ing an  intimate  friend  of  Pundita  Ramabai,  took  up  her 
residence  with  her  in  the  Widow's  Home  in  Poona.  The 
work  at  Poona,  besides  zenana  visiting,  included  the 
orphanage,  having  now  fifteen  girls.  At  Baroda  Dr. 
Iziliah  Ernsberger  conducted  medical  work. 

The  Bombay  Conference  held  its  second  session, 
Bishop  Thoburn  presiding,  December  14-18,  1893,  at 
Bombay.  H.  A.  Crane  was  transferred  from  the  Nortli 
Nebraska  Conference.  H.  W.  Butterfield,  and  Rev.  C.  P. 
Hard  had  returned  from  America  in  October,  1892.  The 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  had  appointed  Miss 
Catherine  Wood  to  this  Conference.  J.  S.  Johnson,  M.A., 
reported,  as  Presiding  Elder  of  Nerbudda  Valley  District, 
more  than  three  hundred  baptisms,  and  multitudes  who 


1 66  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

had  abandoned  idol  worship.  The  property  taken  over 
from  the  Swedish  mission  some  time  before  at  Narsing- 
pore  had  been  washed  down  by  the  unusual  monsoon 
floods. 

The  Bombay  Conference,  under  Bishop  Thoburn, 
presiding,  met  December  12-17,  1894,  at  Poona.  Miss 
Catherine  Wood,  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  increased  that  force.  Mr.  Frease  had  been 
obliged  by  ill  health  to  return  to  America. 

The  statistics  showed:  Foreign  missionaries,  19;  assist- 
ant missionaries,  18;  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Soci- 
ety native  workers,  28;  native  ordained  preachers,9;  un- 
ordained,  6  ;  European  and  Eurasian,  ordained,  6  ; 
unordained  preachers,  15;  native  teachers,  56;  other 
helpers,  31  ;  members,  753;  probationers,  864;  adherents 
588  ;  day  scholars  in  day  schools,  1,326 ;  training 
classes,  4  ;  Sabbath  scholars,  4,723  ;  churches  and  chap- 
els, 19;  value,  152,500  rupees;  parsonages  and  homes  val- 
ued at  173,300  rupees.  The  territory  included  in  the  Con- 
ference had  undergone  such  readjustment  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  make  comparative  statements  of  the  statistics, 
but  these  had  solid  increase  at  every  point. 

42.  The  Central  Conference. 

The  North  India  Conference  and  the  South  India 
Conference  in  1880  met  respectively  at  Cawnpore  and 
Allahabad,  and  each  had  action,  by  which  they  agreed  at 
the  adjournment  of  their  sessions  to  hold  a  reunion  and 
consider  in  joint  session  sundry  general  interests  of  the 
India  missions,  and  to  erect,  if  they  thought  wise,  a 
Delegated  Conference  thereafter  to  meet  at  such  times 
and  places  as  the  joint  Conferences  might  determine. 
Accordingly  a  "  United  session  of  the  North  India  and 


The  Central  Conference.  1 67 

South  India  Conferences,"  spoken  of  also  as  a  "  Confer- 
ence Reunion,"  was  held  at  Allahabad,  January  13-14, 
1880,  Rev.  George  Bowen  being  chosen  President,  and  J. 
Scott,  Secretary.  It  was  not  a  delegated  body  in  the 
sense  of  the  selection  of  delegates,  but  because  the 
united  action  of  the  two  Conferences  delegated  to  it 
power  to  do  certain  things.  The  entire  membership  of 
both  Conferences  were  members  and  were  present.  All 
the  action  had  was  subsequently  ratified  by  the  two 
Conferences  in  the  sessions  which  followed  the  next 
year. 

This  "  united  session  "  made  arrangements  for  the 
holding  of  a  Delegated  Conference  in  1881,  to  be  com- 
posed of  one  delegate  for  five  members  of  each  Annual 
Conference,  besides  two  lay  delegates  to  be  elected  in  the 
first  instance  by  each  Annual  Conference.  The  consti- 
tution adopted  later  made  the  lay  delegates  to  be  one 
for  each  Presiding  Elder's  district.  The  time  fixed  on 
was  July  14,  1881.  The  General  Conference  was  peti- 
tioned to  assign  to  this  Delegated  Conference  "  all  those 
interests  of  our  Church  in  India  embraced  in  Part  IV. 
of  our  Discipline."  A  committee  of  five  was  appointed 
to  watch  the  progress  of  educational  measures  in  the 
supreme  government,  with  power  to  act  for  the  two 
Conferences  as  exigencies  might  require.  A  Methodist 
Sunday-School  Union  was  organized. 

The  Delegated  Conference,  which  was  provided  for 
by  the  united  session  of  the  two  Conferences,  met  in 
Allahabad  according  to  provision  July  14-18,  1881.  The 
delegates  were:  North  India  Conference — Ministerial, B. 
H.  Badley,  E.W.  Parker,  T.J.Scott,  James  Mudge,  T.  S. 
Johnson,  Isaac  Fieldbrave,  P.  M.  Buck.  Lay,  J.  H. 
Condon,  Ram  Chunder  Bose.  South  India  Conference — 


1 68  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Ministerial,  D.  O.  Fox,  Dennis  Osborne,  J.  M.  Thoburn, 
W.  B.  Osborne,  J.  F.  Row,  George  Bowen.  Lay,  J. 
Morris,  W.  A.  Thomas.  W.  B.  Osborne,  ministerial  del- 
egate, being  absent,  J.  A.  Northrup,  reserve  delegate, 
acted  in  his  stead. 

This  Conference  memorialized  the  government  on  the 
existing  marriage  and  divorce  laws,  authorized  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  central  publishing  house  at  Allahabad, 
erected  a  board  of  education,  and  adopted  a  form  of 
deed  for  holding  mission  property. 

The  pastoral  address  recognized  4,668  members  and 
a  native  Christian  community  of  6,500  souls,  11,386 
Sunday-school  scholars,  and  more  than  half  a  million 
rupees'  worth  of  property. 

The  so-called  Delegated  Conference  met  no  more. 
The  General  Conference  of  1884  passed  an  enabling  act 
authorizing  the  organization  of  a  Central  Conference, 
composed  of  delegates  of  Conferences  or  missions  in 
any  mission  field  where  there  was  more  than  one  Annual 
Conference  or  more  than  one  form  of  Methodism. 

In  accordance  with  this,  what  had  originated  as  a 
Delegated  Conference  was  reorganized  as  a  Central  Con- 
ference, under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  Hurst,  who  held 
its  first  session  in  Bareilly,  January  13-14,  1885.  Fifty- 
one  members  responded  to  the  roll  call.  The  Conference 
elected  editors  as  follows  :  "  Indian  Witness,"  J.  M.  Tho- 
burn; "  Kaukab-i-Hind,"  B.  H.  Badley;  Sunday-school 
publications,  J.  W.  Waugh  ;  Editors,  books,  J.  H.  Mess- 
more,  J.  M.  Thoburn.  All  these  to  act  under  a  "Cen- 
tral Board  of  Publication,"  which  was  instructed  to  be- 
come incorporated  under  the  General  Registry  Law  for 
Charitable  Associations. 

The   second  session  of  the  Central  Conference  was 


The  Central  Confeience.  1 69 

held  at  Bombay,  February  17-19,  1887,  Bishop  Ninde 
presiding.  They  recommended  that  the  Singapore  work 
be  constituted  a  separate  mission,  to  be  administered  by 
the  Board  at  New  York.  The  Boundary  Commission 
reported  on  the  boundaries  of  the  North  India,  South 
India,  and  Bengal  Conferences  respectively.  They 
recommended  the  organization  of  a  Woman's  Conference 
in  each  Annual  Conference,  and  memorialized  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  to  establish  an  episcopal  residence  in 
India. 

The  third  session  of  the  Central  Conference  was  held 
in  Cawnpore,  July  27-31,  1889,  Bishop  Thoburn  presid- 
ing, C.  P.  Hard  being  Secretary.  A  question  having  arisen 
whether  women  could  be  admitted  as  lay  members, 
Bishop  Thoburn  said  in  India  missions  the  women  mis- 
sionaries are  appointed  to  Conference  work  ;  thus  the 
analogy  with  the  case  of  women  at  home  failed,  and  if 
the  Conference  allowed  it  he  would  certainly  not 
object. 

The  fourth  session  of  the  Central  Conference  was  held 
in  Calcutta,  January  19-21,  1892,  Bishop  Thoburn  again 
presiding,  and  C.  P.  Hard  being  Secretary.  Delegates 
were  present  from  the  three  Conferences — North  India, 
South  India,  and  Bengal.  This  Conference  memorial- 
ized the  General  Conference  to  erect  a  fifth  Annual 
Conference,  to  be  called  Bombay  Conference. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  Central  Conference  convened 
under  Bishop  Thoburn's  presidency  at  Allahabad,  Feb- 
ruary 22-26,  1894.  The  general  growth  of  India 
Methodism  may  be  indicated  in  the  fact  that  the  Com- 
mittee on  Education  at  this  Conference  passed  in  re- 
view no  less  than  twenty-seven  institutions  of  learning, 
such  as  Theological    Colleges,    Lucknow    College    and 


I/O  Methodist   Eimscopal  Missions. 

Woman's  College,  high  schools,  boarding  schools, 
medical  schools,  industrial  schools,  and  orphanages. 
The  Publication  Committee  had  to  report  on  four  pub- 
lishing houses — one  at  Luckiiow,  Calcutta,  Madras,  and 
Singapore.  It  adopted  a  standard  of  three  separate 
courses  of  study  for  foreign  missionaries,  \\hich  it  was 
compulsory  to  pass;  also  courses  of  study  for  exhorters, 
deaconesses,  and  trained  nurses.  No  less  tlian  sixteen 
positions  as  editors  of  periodicals  and  books  were  filled 
and  four  publishing  agents  were  appointed,  ])eriodicals 
being  published  in  eight  different  languages.  Vast  Sun- 
day-school interests  also  were  carefully  reviewed,  the 
1,864  Sunday-schools  being  attended  by  70,600  scholars, 
an  increase  of  16,000  scholars  in  two  years.  Epworth 
League  and  deaconess  work  w^ere  reviewed.  A  simpli- 
fied translation  of  the  ritual  for  use  in  all  the  sixteen 
languages  in  which  mission  work  was  carried  on  was 
recommended,  and  some  special  questions  suggested, 
involving  giving  up  all  relics  of  idolatry  and  heathen 
marriage  and  funeral  customs.  It  recommended  the 
change  of  name  of  Lucknow  Christian  College  to  "  Reid 
Christian  College." 


PART  IX. 

MALAYSIA  MISSION. 


A/TALAYSIA  is  a  term  generally  applied  to  the 
Malay  Peninsula  and  the  island  Avorld  of  south- 
eastern Asia. 

"  If  we  look  at  a  globe  or  map  of  the  eastern  hem- 
isphere," says  Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace  in  his  "Malay  Archipel- 
ago," "we  shall  perceive  between  Asia  and  Australia  a 
number  of  large  and  small  islands,  forming  a  connected 
group  distinct  from  those  great  masses  of  land,  and  hav- 
ing little  connection  with  either  of  them.  It  is  inhab- 
ited by  a  peculiar  and  interesting  race  of  mankind — the 
Malay — found  nowhere  beyond  the  limits  of  this  insular 
tract,  which  has  been  named  the  Malay  Archipelago.  It 
happens  that  few  persons  realize  that,  as  a  whole,  it  is 
comparable  with  the  primary  divisions  of  the  globe,  and 
that  some  of  its  separate  islands  are  larger  than  France 
or  the  Austrian  empire." 

In  a  wide  sense  the  term  Malay  includes  the  entire 
races  from  Easter  Island  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  thus 
being  applicable  over  an  area  of  13,000  by  5,000  miles, 
which,  ethnologically,  would  embrace  Malays,  Malay- 
Javanese,  Fiji  Islanders,  Polynesians,  and,  Wallace  would 
say,  Papuans  also.  The  term  Malay  is  strictly  given  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  Penang,  and 
Sumatra,  found   chiefly  in  three  classes:    the  civilized 

Malays,  the  "  Hill-tribes,"  and  the  "  Men  of  the  Sea." 
13 


1/2  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

For  two  thousand  years  the  Malays  have  been  tlie 
most  cuhurcd  race  in  that  quarter  of  the  globe,  though 
the  sub-divisions  of  the  race  would  exhibit  varying  stages 
of  culture,  with  physical  and  linguistic  characteristics. 
Hindus,  Arabs,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Dutch,  and  En- 
glish have  in  turn  succeeded  to  more  or  less  occupancy 
and  influence  in  the  Archipelago.  The  Hindus  came  in 
the  fourth  century,  of  which  the  Javanese  language 
bears  still  strong  marks  in  Sanskrit  elements,  while  the 
remains  of  Buddhist  architecture  in  the  island  of  Java 
are  a  wonder  even  now  to  the  civilized  world.  The 
Mohammedans  came  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
Arabic  words  have  percolated  the  Malay  language. 

Our  immediate  interest  centers  in  a  small  section  of 
this  great  island  world  known  as  "  The  Straits  Settle- 
ments." In  1852  the  British  Government  organized  a 
separate  government  under  this  title  for  its  possessions 
on  the  Malay  Peninsula  and  the  coast  islands,  modeled 
chiefly  after  the  colonial  government  established  in  In- 
dia. These  settlements  include  the  island  of  Singapore, 
the  town  and  province  of  Malacca,  the  islands  and  ad- 
jacent mainlands  of  the  Bindings,  the  island  of  Penang, 
the  Wellesley  province  on  the  adjacent  mainland,  and 
the  Cocos  or  Keeling  Islands. 

Of  these,  Singapore,  which  contains  the  capital  of  the 
Straits  Settlements,  is  easily  the  most  important.  It  is 
also  most  prominent  as  being  a  great  commercial  and 
military  center.  The  island  of  Singapore  is  about 
twenty-seven  miles  long  and  fourteen  miles  broad,  the 
city  being  at  its  southern  point.  It  is  situate  seventy 
miles  from  the  equator,  and  is  said  to  have  no  seasons, 
the  extreme  range  of  temperature  being  from  71  to  92 
degrees.     When  the    island  was    formally  ceded  to  the 


Malaysia  Mission.  173 

East  India  Company  in  1824  it  was  covered  with  forest. 
In  1867  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. It  numbered  a  population  in  1891  of  some 
184,500,  of  whom  there  were  nearly  122,000  Chinese, 
and  Europeans  and  Eurasians  nearly  9,000. 

The  city  of  Singapore  is  esteemed  the  "  key  position 
to  all  that  part  of  the  Eastern  world."  Here  not  only 
two  seas  meet,  but  two  worlds.  Much  of  the  commerce 
between  the  West  and  the  far  East  passes  through  the 
straits  at  this  point,  and  every  China-bound  steamer 
passing  through  the  Suez  Canal  goes  this  way.  The 
city  was  founded  in  1819,  when  the  cession  of  the  island 
was  made  to  the  British  by  the  Malay  Sultan  of  Johore. 
Its  growth  was  greatly  accelerated  by  its  being  at  an 
early  date  made  a  "free  city,"  which  caused  it  rapidly 
to  become  the  emporium  for  the  commerce  of  the  ad- 
jacent islands. 

In  1879  Dr.  Thoburn  was  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Cal- 
cutta District,  which  was  "  without  bounds  "  southward 
along  the  coast  of  Bengal.  The  work  was  extended  to 
Rangoon,  and  invitations  to  open  missions  came  from 
points  farther  south,  and  even  from  Singapore,  a  thou- 
sand miles  away.  Little  thought  was  given  to  these 
calls  for  some  time,  but  at  last  Dr.  Thoburn  set  himself 
to  an  inquiry  into  details  concerning  the  entire  condi- 
tion of  things  in  Singapore.  The  conviction  grew  upon 
him  that  there  was  an  immediate  demand  to  enter  that 
field,  and  he  was  led  to  formulate  in  his  mind,  though 
not  very  definitely  seeing  how  it  might  be  realized,  a 
bold  venture  for  a  new  mission  on  a  self-supporting  basis, 
since  it  was  impossible  to  contemplate  its  inception  on 
any  other.  He  wrote  an  appeal,  which  was  published  in 
the  "AVestern  Christian  Advocate,"  for  two  voung  men 


174  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

to  volunteer  to  come  to  India  to  occupy  the  distant  post 
of  Singapore,  preach  to  Europeans  and  Eurasians,  or- 
ganize a  self-supporting  church  among  them,  and  seek 
to  reach  out  to  non-Christian  peoples,  just  as  had  been 
so  often  successfully  done  in  the  South  India  work 
under  William  Taylor.  At  once  twenty  young  men  re- 
sponded, affirming  their  willingness  to  attempt  this  work, 
but  as  preliminary  inquiry  concerning  their  fitness  for 
such  an  enterprise  involved  much  correspondence  and 
delay,  nothing  could  be  done  at  once  on  the  new  field. 
No  two  among  the  applicants  were  adjudged,  on  further 
investigation,  to  meet  all  the  conditions  incident  to  the 
situation. 

"  In  the  meantime,"  wrote  Bishop  Thoburn,  in  re- 
counting tliis  early  history  in  his  "  India  and  Malaysia," 
"near  the  close  of  the  year  (1884)  Bishop  Hurst  was 
approaching  India  after  a  prolonged  tour  in  Europe. 
He  had  heard  nothing  whatever  about  our  projected 
mission  in  Singapore,  and  was  not  aware  that  a  call  for 
volunteers  had  already  been  made  in  America,  or  that 
young  men  were  offering  for  the  post.  By  an  extraor- 
dinary coincidence,  which  every  Christian  will  interpret 
as  a  clear  evidence  that  God  was  moving  in  the  matter, 
his  mind  had  been  strangely  turned  in  the  direction  of 
Singapore.  .  .  .  He  had  met  with  tourists,  and,  in  one 
case,  with  a  resident  of  Singapore  itself,  who  had  called 
his  attention  to  that  part  of  the  world,  and  he  had  thus 
become  impressed  with  its  importance.  But,  added  to 
the  interest  thus  created,  was  a  distinct  conviction, 
which  he  felt  was  from  above,  that  he  ought  to  do 
something  to  extend  our  work  in  that  direction.  When 
I  met  him  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Bombay,  the  first 
question    he   put    to  me   was,  '  What   can   be   done    for 


Malaysia  Alission.  1 75 

Singapore?  '  I  supposed  be  had  heard  of  my  appeal  in 
the  American  papers,  but  was  surprised  to  learn  that  he 
had  received  no  intimation  from  any  quarter  that  such 
a  project  had  ever  been  mooted  by  anyone  else.  He 
and  I  had  been  living  and  working  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  globe,  and  yet  our  minds  had  been  strangely  led  to 
the  same  conclusion  and  our  hearts  had  become  im- 
pressed with  the  same  conviction.  We  both  felt  that 
God  would  have  us  move  in  the  direction  of  the  far 
south-east." 

Bishop  Hurst,  as  has  been  already  recorded,  held  the 
ninth  session  of  the  South  India  Conference,  which  con- 
vened at  Hyderabad  November  20,  1884.  No  question 
attracted  more  attention  nor  received  more  thoughtful 
and  i)rayerful  consideration  tlian  that  of  projecting  a 
mission  in  distant  Singapore,  which  lay  far  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  South  India  Conference  as  described  by 
the  General  Conference,  and  beyond  all  territory  hitherto 
contemplated  as  belonging  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
Presiding  Elder.  It  was  impossible  to  consult  the  Gen- 
eral Missionary  Committee,  who  alone  had  the  preroga- 
tive to  establish  a  new  mission.  There  were  no  funds 
that  could  by  any  fair  construction  of  the  powers  of  the 
Conference  be  appropriated  to  this  quarter  of  tlie  globe, 
even  if  they  could  have  been  eked  out  from  the  already 
overstrained  trea^ry  at  the  command  of  the  Confer- 
ence. The  proposal  to  inaugurate  such  a  work  could 
not  secure  the  indorsement  of  the  home  Church  on  so 
sudden  an  emergency.  If  attempted  at  all,  the  South 
India  Conference  must  assume  the  entire  responsibility 
and  run  the  chances  of  being  criticised  for  having  ex- 
ceeded its  prerogatives  in  establishing  what  practically 
was,  at   this   juncture,  a  "foreign  mission  "   of  its    own. 


1/6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

This  technicality,  however,  was  met,  as  the  sequel  shows, 
by  attaching  Singapore  as  a  station  to  the  Burma  Pre- 
siding Elder's  district.  The  lack  of  funds  did  not 
alarm  a  Conference  which  had  originated  on  a  "  self- 
support  "  plan,  and  which  now  only  proposed  an  exten- 
sion of  its  operations  to  another  British  colony.  To  be 
sure,  nothing  was  secured,  nor  even  anyone  in  the  pro- 
posed locality  pledged  to  any  sum  or  sums  with  which 
to  make  a  beginning. 

All  these  features  of  the  novel  proposal  did  not,  how- 
ever, present  to  the  minds  of  the  members  of  the  Con- 
ference any  obstacle  that  they  deemed  insuperable.  The 
overmastering  part  of  the  problem  was  where  they 
might  hope  to  secure  a  suitable  man  to  appoint  as  mis- 
sionary to  found  a  mission  at  so  strategic  a  point  on  the 
globe,  and  under  these  peculiar  conditions. 

Nothing  more  satisfactory  can  be  presented  here  than 
Dr.  (Bishop)  Thoburn's  narrative  of  the  way  which  was 
found  out  of  this  difficulty.  He  says:  "Up  to  that 
date  no  one  with  the  peculiar  qualifications  needed  for 
so  difficult  a  post  had  offered  in  America,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  look  round  among  our  own  little  band  of 
workers  for  some  one  to  send  to  the  new  and  distant 
outpost.  At  once  our  thoughts  turned  in  the  direction 
of  William  F.  Oldham,  a  man  who  seemed  in  many  re- 
spects peculiarly  fitted  for  the  difficult  and,  in  some  re- 
spects, hazardous  undertaking.  This  was  to  be  our 
first  Indian  foreign  mission,  and  it  was  peculiarly  fitting 
that  we  should  put  an  Indian  in  charge  of  it.  Mr.  Old- 
ham was  of  European  parentage,  but  had  been  born  in 
India  and  brought  up  there.  He  had  been  employed 
for  a  number  of  years  in  the  survey  service  of  the  Indian 
Government,  and  had  been  thoroughly  educated  for  that 


Malaysia  Mission.  177 

kind  of  work,  but  soon  after  his  conversion  he  began  to 
feel  the  need  of  a  broader  culture,  and  also  became  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  God  had  a  work  for 
him  to  do  in  connection  with  our  Church.  His  young 
wife,  also  born  in  India,  shared  his  convictions,  and  the 
two  determined  to  go  to  America,  complete  their  educa- 
tion, and  in  due  time  return  to  India  to  devote  them- 
selves to  missionary  work  among  their  own  people. 
They  were  now  on  the  ocean  returning  from  America 
and  nearing  India,  but  without  the  shadow  of  a  dream 
that  their  brethren  in  India  were  planning  for  them  to 
complete  a  change  in  all  their  plans  and  expectations — 
that  of  sending  them  on  beyond  to  distant  Malaysia.  It 
was  impossible  to  consult  them,  and  the  brethren  at 
Hyderabad  could  only  act  in  full  confidence  in  the  loy- 
alty, courage,  and  devotion  of  the  two  workers  at  sea. 
The  decision  was  carefully  and  prayerfully  made,  and 
when  Bishop  Hurst  read  the  appointments  the  name  of 
William  F.  Oldham  was  announced  as  "  missionary  at 
Singapore."  Dr.  Thoburn  went  from  the  seat  of  the 
Conference  to  Bombay  to  meet  Mr.  Oldham  on  his  ar- 
rival at  that  place,  and  to  announce  to  him  his  assign- 
ment of  work.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  unex- 
pected to  Mr.  Oldham  than  this  peculiar  turn  of  the 
"itinerant  wheel."  He  replied  to  Dr.  Thoburn  on 
learning  the  facts  :  "  I  had  prayed  for  some  days  that 
God  would  make  me  willing  to  go  to  any  post  in  all  In- 
dia to  which  I  might  be  sent,  and  I  had  at  last  reached 
a  point  where  I  was  perfectly  willing  for  any  place 
selected  for  me  in  all  this  empire ;  but  it  never  once 
dawned  upon  my  thoughts  that  they  would  shoot  me 
clear  through  the  empire,  and  fifteen  hundred  miles  out 
on  the  other  side."     Mr.  Oldham  had  just  crossed  the 


178  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Atlantic  from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  and  his  new  ap- 
pointment was  as  much  farther  away  from  Bombay, 
where  he  first  learned  of  it. 

Dr.  Thoburn  and  Mr.  Oldham  determined  to  proceed 
to  Singapore,  leaving  Mrs.  Oldham  for  the  time  with 
her  mother.  Mrs.  Thoburn  and  Miss  Battle  accompa- 
nied the  gentlemen  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  specially  in 
the  singing  in  the  evangelistic  services,  with  which  it 
was  proposed  to  announce  the  mission  and  attempt  to 
realize  it  in  Singapore.  At  Rangoon,  where  they  stopped 
on  their  way  down  the  coast,  a  liberal  collection  was 
received  for  the  new  venture. 

On  the  Sunday  after  their  arrival  in  the  town  hall, 
which  had  been  secured  for  religious  service,  Miss  Bat- 
tie  presided  at  a  little  Estey  organ,  which  had  been  pre- 
sented to  Mrs.  Oldham  by  her  fellow-students  at  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary.  Mrs.  Thoburn  led  the  singing,  Mr. 
Oldham  acted  as  usher,  and  Dr.  Thoburn  preached  from 
the  text,  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  S[)irit, 
saith  the  Lord."  Before  the  service  was  concluded  a 
stout,  strongly-built  Scotchman,  with  tears  and  strong 
emotion,  asked  to  be  prayed  for.  All  through  the  room 
others  were  moved  in  a  similar  way.  At  the  end  of 
two  weeks  it  was  found  that  a  considerable  number  had 
been  converted.  These  were  now  organized  by  Dr. 
Thoburn  into  a  regular  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
under  disciplinary  forms,  though  there  were  but  three 
who  were  judged  fitted  to  be  appointed  to  official  rela- 
tions. 

Dr.  Tlioburn  and  the  ladies  returned  to  Calcutta,  leav- 
ing Mr.  Oldham  alone  at  this  new  and  important  post. 
Among  the  new  members  was  one  Chinese  Christian. 
It  was  not  easy  to  get  access  to  the  Chinese,  who  were 


Malaysia  Mission.  179 

very  numerous  in  the  city.  They  had  among  them- 
selves a  club,  or  debating  society,  which  they  had  enti- 
tled "Celestial  Reasoning  Association."  Mr.  Oldham 
sought  to  become  a  member  of  this  association,  but  not 
being  admitted  to  tlie  privilege,  proposed  to  deliver  a 
lecture  before  them,  which  was  acceded  to,  and,  in  a 
private  room  which  was  secured  for  the  purpose,  gave 
a  lecture  on  astronomy  which  greatly  delighted  his  audi- 
ence and  won  him  their  esteem  and  confidence.  The 
Consul-General  of  China  presided  at  this  evening's  en- 
tertainment. The  Chinese  host  at  whose  house  the  lect- 
ure was  delivered  wrote  a  few  days  after  to  solicit  the 
services  of  Mr.  Oldham  as  his  private  tutor.  Mr.  Old- 
ham was  unsupported  by  the  Missionary  Society,  was  a 
self-supporting  missionary,  and  had  been  desirous  of  gain- 
ing access  to  the  Chinese,  and  readily  interpreted  this  call 
as  a  providential  one  and  enteredu  pon  the  task.  Mr. 
Oldham  soon  after  proposed  to  the  Chinese  merchants  to 
open  a  school  for  their  children.  They  acceded  to  the 
suggestion,  and  in  a  week  he  had  thirty-six  pupils, 
whom  he  was  instructing  in  English,  wliile  the  Chinese 
instruction  was  given  by  a  Chinese.  Mr.  Oldham  soon 
found  occasion  to  make  another  advance  movement, 
and  proposed  the  erection  of  a  more  centrally  located 
school  building  on  ground  granted  for  the  purpose  by 
the  government,  wliich  also  met  with  a  hearty  response 
on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  one  of  whom  headed  the  sub- 
scription list  with  $500.  A  boarding-school  soon  fol- 
lowed. A  still  larger  building  was  found  necessary,  and 
Mr.  Oldham  made  the  proposal  that  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety grant  half  the  cost  of  its  erection,  conditioned  on 
the  Chinese  donating  the  other  half.  To  his  great  de- 
light, within  six  weeks  after  the  suggestion,  which   was 


i8o  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

approved  by  the  Chinese  community,  Mr.  Jiak  Kim,  a 
Chinese  banker  who  had  been  selected  as  treasurer  of 
the  fund,  reported  $6,200,  beint;  $400  more  than  the 
amount  asked  to  be  furnished  by  the  Chinese,  the  treas- 
urer himself  having  contributed  $1,500  of  the  amount. 
A  church  edifice  for  the  use  of  the  English  congregation 
soon  followed,  a  Chinese  gentleman  having  contributed 
$500  toward  its  erection. 

Thus  far  this  narrative  is  drawn  almost  wholly  from 
the  accounts  furnished  to  the  public  by  Dr.  Thoburn  and 
Mr.  Oldham,  and  is  within  the  first  year  of  the  history 
of  this  new  mission. 

The  next  session  of  the  South  India  Conference  con- 
vened in  January,  1886,  and  Mr.  Oldham  reported  the  mu- 
nificent gifts  of  the  Chinese  in  Singapore  for  schools 
conducted  by  this  mission;  a  marvelous  result  of  an  en- 
terprise which,  but  one  year  before,  was  begun  without 
local  prestige  of  any  sort,  unannounced  and  unknown. 

By  February  7,  1887,  Mr.  Oldham  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  reporting  a  church  building  completed,  also  a 
Chinese  boarding  and  day  school  edifice  74x60  feet, 
with  five  Chinese  boys  as  boarders.  There  were  some 
twelve  thousand  Tamils  in  Singapore,  immigrants  from 
the  continent  of  India,  and  work  had  been  attempted 
among  them,  a  flourishing  Tamil  school  having  been 
begun  witli  forty-five  pupils  now  enrolled.  Rev.  G. 
A.  Bond,  who  had  arrived  from  America  the  year  pre- 
vious, was  reluctantly  compelled  by  a  thorough  breaking 
down  of  his  health  to  return  to  America. 

1.  Malaysia  Mission  Organized. 

At  the  session  of  the  Soutli  India  Conference  of  1887, 
just  mentioned,   steps  were   taken   to  secure   a  separate 


Malaysia  Missioti  Organized.  i8l 

mission  in  Malaysia.  On  motion  of  Mr,  Oldham,  the 
Conference  requested  the  ensuing  Central  Conference 
to  petition  the  General  Committee  in  America  to  sepa- 
rate Malaysia  from  South  India  Conference.  This  ac- 
tion was  based  on  the  following  reasons:  1.  The  peculiar 
difficulties  and  unusual  opportunities  that  lay  before  the 
mission  at  Singapore.  2.  The  Chinese  and  Malays  who 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments and  the  surrounding  islands  were  wholly  distinct 
from  the  people  of  India,  having  nothing  in  common, 
because  of  diversity  in  language,  religion,  and  race  pe- 
culiarities. 3.  The  distance  intervening  between  India 
and  Singapore  prevented  the  hope  of  successful  admin- 
istration of  so  remote  a  mission,  which  presented 
absorbing  interests  and  problems  of  its  own,  demanding 
independent  consideration  as  abroad  missionary  enter- 
prise. 

The  Central  Conference  presented  the  matter  to  the 
General  Missionary  Committee  which  met  November, 
1888,  who  acceded  to  the  request,  and  established  the 
Malaysia  Mission. 

When  Bishop  Thoburn  arrived  from  Rangoon  at 
Singapore  April  18,  1889,  a  reception  was  given  him, 
and  the  next  day  at  one  o'clock  he  called  the  mission- 
aries together  on  the  wide  veranda  of  the  Anglo-Chinese 
Boarding  School,  and  proceeded  to  organize  the  Malay- 
sia Mission  as  a  separate  and  independent  body,  under 
the  direct  administration  of  the  Missionary  Society. 

The  following  were  recognized  as  members  of  the  mis- 
sion :  William  F.  Oldham,  Superintendent ;  Benjamin 
F.  West,  M.D.,  Ralph  W.  Munson,  William  N.  Brewster, 
in  charge  of  the  English  Church  ;  David  Underwood, 
Tamil  evangelist   for  the  Malay  States  ;  John    Polglase, 


1 82  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

local  preacher  in  charge  of  the  English  city  mission  ; 
M.  Gnanamuthoo,  of  the  Tamil  mission,  and  Alexander 
Fox,  local  preacher.  The  lady  members  of  the  mission 
were  Mrs.  Oldham,  Mrs.  Munson,  and  Mrs.  West, 
with  Miss  Sophia  Blackmore,  of  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society. 

The  English  Church  was  woi^hiping  in  a  small 
building  dedicated  two  years  ago,  capable  of  seating  two 
hundred  persons.  It  now  enrolled  68  members  and  19 
probationers,  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  Brewster. 
The  Anglo-Chinese  School  enrolled  16  boarding  pupils 
and  360  day  scholars,  an  advance  from  eighteen  months 
before  of  210.  At  this  first  session  of  the  mission  in 
"  Annual  "  Meeting  the  matter  of  establishing  a  mission 
press  was  discussed,  showing  the  enterprise  of  the  mis- 
sion and  its  apprehension  of  its  needed  forces. 

Woman's  work  had  been  commenced.  Mrs.  Oldham 
had  written  to  Mrs.  Mary  C.  Nind,  then  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Minneapolis  Branch  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  appealing  for  aid  for  Singa- 
pore work  among  women.  Mrs.  Nind  presented  the  ap- 
peal to  the  General  Executive  Committee  at  its  next 
meeting,  November,  18S7.  The  committee,  overbur- 
dened with  the  demands  of  rapidly-developing  work  in 
fields  already  occupied,  after  prayerfully  considering 
this  appeal  decided  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
enter  upon  this  new  field.  All  hearts  were  oppressed  at 
the  necessity  which  compelled  the  denial.  But  Mrs. 
Nind  could  not  give  up  Singapore  ;  she  pondered  and 
prayed,  and  then  leaping  to  her  feet  gave  vent  to  her 
feelings  and  faith  in  the  memorable  words  :  "  Frozen 
Minnesota  will,  God  helping  her,  plant  a  mission  at  the 
equator  !  "  at   the   same  time  becoming  personally  re- 


Malaysia  Mission  Organized.  183 

sponsible  for  three  thousand  dollars  f(jr  the  work  among 
women  of  Singapore,  which,  at  her  urgent  request,  and 
on  her  own  conditions,  the  Executive  Committee  now 
promptly  placed  in  the  budget  of  their  appropriations. 
But  where  was  the  missionary  ? 

On  a  distant  continent,  thousands  of  miles  away,  in 
another  "  new  world,"  among  a  new  people,  God  was 
preparing  Miss  Sophia  Blackmore  for  the  work  which 
the  Minneapolis  Branch  made  possible.  As  a  girl  she 
had  often  had  longing  desires  after  a  missionary  life  and 
work.  Many  times  her  heart  had  been  strangely  drawn 
toward  the  Chinese,  but  her  Church,  the  Australian 
Wesleyan  Branch  of  Methodism,  had  no  representatives 
in  India  or  in  China,  so  no  way  seemed  open  to  this 
eager  missionary  spirit.  At  this  time  Miss  Isabella 
Leonard,  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Nind,  was  in  Australia  doing 
evangelistic  work.  She  became  acquainted  with  Miss 
Blackmore,  and  was  used  of  God  in  leading  her  into  a 
higher  and  deeper  spiritual  experience.  A  mutual  at- 
tachment sprang  up  between  the  two.  Miss  Blackmore 
talked  of  the  secret  desires  and  longings  that  moved 
her.  Miss  Leonard  responded,  "  Come  with  me  to  In- 
dia and  you  will  find  plenty  to  do."  She  accepted  the 
offer,  and  as  they  journeyed  together  they  prayed  that 
the  right  field  and  work  should  be  given. 

The  missionaries  were  praying  in  Singapore,  Mrs. 
Nind  and  her  associates  were  praying  in  America,  and 
God  was  answering  by  speeding  an  Australian  mail  boat 
carrying  Miss  Blackmore  for  this  work. 

While  Mr.  Oldham  was  in  attendance  on  South  India 
Conference  session  of  1887  he  met  Miss  Blackmore,  and 
after  conversation  with  her  and  Miss  Leonard,  he  decided 
that  she  would  be  admirably   adapted   to  the  work  in 


184  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Malaysia.  Mr.  Oldham  and  Miss  Leonard  both  com- 
municated by  mail  with  Mrs.  Nind  their  decision. 
The  answer  by  cable  was,  "  Blackmore-Singapore,"  and 
July,  1887,  Miss  Sophia  Blackmore  entered  upon  her 
work  among  the  Tamil  women,  and  opened  a  day  school 
among  them  August  15,  1887. 

The  second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  held 
under  Bishop  Thoburn's  presidency  in  Singapore,  April 
3-5,  1890.  The  Rev.  C.  A.  Gray,  who  arrived  from 
America  about  the  middle  of  June,  1889,  had  died  of 
dysentery  a  few  weeks  after  reaching  the  mission.  He 
was  an  excellent  young  man  about  thirty  years  of  age. 
Mr.  G.  W.  Underwood,  a  Tamil  local  preacher  who  was 
received  from  the  American  Board  Mission  in  Ceylon, 
had  also  died.  He  was  attacked  with  pneumonia,  which 
culminated  in  his  death  February  3,  1890.  J.  E.  Leu- 
ring,  Ph.D.,  and  W.  Kensett  had  joined  the  mission. 
Mr.  Oldham  and  Mrs.  Oldham  were  in  America.  Rev. 
W.  Munson  was  made  Acting  Superintendent  and  Prin- 
cipal of  the  Anglo-Chinese  School.  B.  F.  West,  M.D., 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Chinese  mission.  Mr. 
Brewster  was  again  assigned  to  the  English  church,  also 
to  serve  as  teacher  in  the  Chinese  school.  Dr.  Leuring 
was  appointed  to  the  Malay  mission.  The  Tamil  mis- 
sion was  left  in  care  of  Mr.  S.  P.  Roberts  till  it  could  be 
otherwise  provided  for. 

Miss  Blackmore  was  the  sole  representative  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  from  America. 
Mrs.  Munson,  Mrs.  West,  Miss  Fox,  Miss  Hagedorn, 
Miss  Norris,  Mrs.  MacFarlane,  Miss  Leicester,  Miss 
Keun,  Miss  Yzelmann,  Mrs.  Ruth,  Miss  Holloway,  and 
Mrs.  Holloway  distributed  among  them  the  various  de- 
partments of  woman's   work.     The   work  was  opening 


iMalaysia  Alissio/i   Or^cviized.  187 

graciously,  the  zenana  workers  having  fifty  houses  on 
their  visiting  list.  The  Tamil  Girl's  School  had  thirty- 
seven  pupils,  not  all,  however,  Tamils.  There  were  in 
the  Chinese  schools  thirty-five  Chinese  girls  learning  to 
read. 

Dr.  West,  with  his  family,  had  resided  in  the  heart  of 
the  Chinese  quarter  of  the  city,  where  he  had  a  dis- 
pensary and  had  treated  fifteen  hundred  patients,  thir- 
teen of  whom  had  asked  to  be  baptized.  He  had  also 
conducted  street  preaching  among  Malays.  The  leper 
and  pauper  hospitals  were  regularly  visited,  and  with  the 
aid  of  two  Chinese  catechists  Sunday  preaching  services 
were  conducted  in  the  Chinese  mission,  which  was 
begun  August,  1889. 

The  Anglo-Chinese  school  again  reported  surprising 
advance  ;  the  high  average  attendance  of  220  of  the 
year  before  had  risen  to  285  for  the  present  year,  and 
this  had  reached  within  the  month  just  preceding  the 
meeting  320  boys,  daily  attendants,  and  March  31,  1890, 
the  enrollment  nearly  reached  400. 

The  government  granted  additional  land  to  the 
school  and  $3,000  toward  enlarging  the  building,  and  it 
was  already  decided  to  advance  the  school  to  academic 
grade,  and  to  add  theological  and  normal  classes  for  the 
preparation  of  native  pastors  and  teachers  of  the  near 
future.  Mr.  Oldham  was  appealing  in  America  for 
$10,000  to  aid  in  this  enterprise.  The  school  itself  was 
entirely  self-supporting,  though  more  than  three  hundred 
of  the  students  were  of  heathen  families.  They  were 
brought  within  Gospel  influence  and  several  had  been 
clearly  converted.  There  were  Chinese,  Malays,  Ta- 
mils, Siamese,  and  Eurasians  gathered  here  from  the 
Malay  Peninsula,  Java,  Siam,  Borneo,  and  China.  The 
IP, 


i88  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Tamil  mission,  under  Rev.  1).  Underwood,  registered 
eighty  members  and  twenty-seven  probationers.  The 
amount  collected  for  self-support  reached  $4,000.  In 
December,  1889,  Dr.  Leuring  began  work  among  the 
Germans  in  Singapore,  a  service  being  held  for  them  in 
the  English  church. 

But  the  mission  was  not  content  to  wait  indefinitely 
to  project  operations  beyond  Singapore,  and  the  Annual 
Meeting  authorized  a  commission  of  exploration  for  new 
and  wider  fields.  On  January  27,  1890,  Drs.  B.  F.  West 
and  J.  E.  Leuring  set  sail  for  Borneo  on  an  exploring 
enterprise.  They  landed  at  Pontianak,  proceeded  up 
the  Kapuas  River  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  into  the 
Dyak  country.  They  were  delighted  with  the  prospect 
of  mission  work.  Few  political  difficulties  intervened. 
These  were  non-idolatrous  and  non-Mohammedan  peo- 
ple, with  no  Avritten  language,  and  a  very  rude  form  of 
civilization. 

The  territory  they  traversed  was  about  two  hundred 
miles  square.  At  several  places  representatives  of  the 
Dutch  Government  resided.  The  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sion and  that  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at  Ponti- 
anak were  the  only  Christian  agencies  they  met.  The 
streets  of  Pontianak  were  merely  footpaths  ten  to  fif- 
teen feet  wide  but  nicely  graveled.  This  city  was  the 
seat  of  a  Malay  sultan,  with  some  fifteen  hundred 
Malays  and  as  many  Chinese.  It  was  visited  by  three 
steamers  monthly  from  Singapore.  Chinese  junks  and 
sailing  vessels  visit  the  port.  It  had  steam  communica- 
tion with  Sambas  once  a  fortnight ;  also  with  Sintang, 
and  a  weekly  mail  to  Singapore.  The  end  of  the  first 
day's  journey  from  Pontianak  brought  them  to  Kampong 
Suka  Lanting,  where  the  Kapuas  River  divides  into  two 


Malaysia  Mission  Organized.  1 89 

branches,  one  of  which  runs  to  the  sea.  On  Pulau 
Island  they  got  their  first  glance  at  the  Dyaks.  About 
two  hundred  miles  above  Pontianak  is  the  town  of  Sin- 
tang,  the  residence  of  the  sultan.  The  river  Melawi 
joins  the  Kapuas  here  and  they  ascended  it.  The  Dyaks 
of  the  upper  Kupuas  were  "  head-hunting,"  and  it  was 
unsafe  to  venture  among  them  now. 

The  third  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  convened 
at  Singapore,  April  6-10,  1891,  Bishop  Thoburn  once 
more  being  in  the  chair.  Rev.  J.  C.  Floyd,  D.D.,  had 
been  appointed  Superintendent,  Mr.  Oldham's  health 
not  admitting  of  his  return.  Dr.  Floyd  sailed  with  his 
wife  from  New  York  January  14,  1890.  Mr.  A.  E.  Bruce 
and  Mr.  R.  C.  Ford  also  joined  the  mission.  Mr.  Brew- 
ster had  been  taken  from  the  English  Church  and 
transferred  to  the  Foochow  Conference.  Rev.  D.  D. 
Moore,  of  Canada,  succeeded  to  the  charge  of  the  En- 
glish Church.  April  15,  1890,  Dr.  West  left  for  China 
with  the  view  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  Hokien 
dialect  used  by  the  Chinese  in  Singapore,  the  common 
language  about  Amoy,  China,  whence  most  of  these 
Chinese  had  emigrated.  B.  H.  Balderston,  from  the 
Mount  Allison  University,  Canada,  and  C.  E.  Copeland, 
from  the  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  arrived  in  August, 
1890.  Dr.  Leuring  was  from  the  Martin  Institute,  Ger- 
many Conference,  and  within  eleven  months  from  his 
arrival  here  had  mastered  the  Malay  language  sufficiently 
to  prosecute  work  in  that  tongue.  The  Malays  are  Mo- 
hammedans, and  it  required  great  wisdom  to  gain  influ- 
ence ovei  them.  A  Malay  press  was  undertaken  to  be 
established.  The  press  itself  was  sent  from  London, 
and  W.  G.  Shellabear,  formerly  of  the  Royal  Engineers, 
was  en  route  to   Singapore,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  to 


190  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

take  charge  of  it.  The  money  necessary  for  this  press 
had  been  mainly  raised  by  Mr.  Oldham  in  America. 
Miss  Amelia  Bishop,  of  Toledo,  O.,  gave  $400  to  estab- 
lish a  press,  which  the  mission  decided  should  bear 
her  name.  The  number  of  pages  printed  this  year 
was  13,200.  The  estimated  value  of  churches  and 
chapels  in  this  mission,  which  began  without  a  dollar  of 
resources  and  with  no  one  to  indorse  it  but  six  years 
before,  was  ;$i 0,000,  with  orphanage,  school,  hospital, 
and  publishing  house  property  worth  over  twice  as  much 
more.  Miss  Blackmore  was  now  supported  by  ten  as- 
sistants, and  they  were  systematically  visiting  in  fifty- 
five  homes.  Among  the  Tamil  and  Chinese  community 
they  were  teaching  89  girls.  They  had  opened  an  or- 
phanage a  year  before,  and  had  now  9  orphans  under 
their  care.  Three  Sabbath-schools  were  already  at- 
tempted by  the  mission,  and  58  pupils.  Beyond  the  98 
members  and  22  probationers  they  counted  195  adher- 
ents. The  conversions  of  the  year  were  reported  74, 
and  for  self-support  $5,100  had  been  raised  ;  and  begin- 
ning at  once  to  recognize  the  connectionalism  of  Meth- 
odism they  had  contributed  $36  for  the  Missionary 
Society. 

The  fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  con- 
vened at  Singapore,  February  9-1 1,  1892,  under  the 
presidency  of  Rev.  E.  W.  Parker,  D.D.,  of  the  North 
India  Conference.  Under  the  trying  climatic  condi- 
tions Dr.  Floyd  had  been  stricken  with  heat-apoplexy 
and  was  compelled  to  return  to  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Kensett  had  retired  from  the  mission;  Mr.  G.  F.  Pykett, 
of  England,  had  joined  it.  The  new  Anglo-Chinese 
building  was  in  process  of  erection  at  an  anticipated 
cost  of   $10,000.     Rev.   R.  W.  Munson    was   principal. 


Malaysia  Mission  Orga?iized.  191 

Mr.  Shellabear,  besides  developing  the  press,  was  in 
charge  of  the  Malay  work,  preaching  in  Malay  and  dis- 
tributing Malay  tracts.  The  Tamil  work  was  in  charge  of 
Rev.  H.  L.  Hoisington,  a  native  Tamil  from  Ceylon.  Dr. 
West  had  organized  a  Chinese  church  of  forty-three 
members,  with  an  average  Sabbath  attendance  of  nearly 
a  hundred.  Mr.  Moore  had  charge  of  the  English 
church,  which  was  growing  rapidly.  The  "Malaysia 
Message,"  a  monthly  religious  paper,  was  started  by  the 
mission,  edited  by  Mr.  Shellabear. 

The  preceding  Annual  Meeting  had  determined  on 
the  occupancy  of  Penang,  the  second  city  in  the  Straits 
Settlements,  situated  about  four  hundred  miles  north- 
west of  Singapore,  having  a  population  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand,  mostly  Chinese  and  Tamils. 
Rev.  D.  D.  Moore  and  Rev.  B.  H.  Balderston  were 
chosen  to  begin  this  enterprise.  Mr.  Balderston  went 
in  advance  and  opened  a  school  in  July  on  the  plan  of 
the  Anglo-Chinese  School  at  Singapore,  and  was  joined 
by  Mr.  Moore  a  few  weeks  later.  A  hall  was  rented, 
and  regular  religious  services  were  conducted  in  the 
English  language.  There  were  by  this  time  fifty  schol- 
ars and  a  small  but  constant  congregation.  An  Anglo- 
Chinese  girls'  school  was  begun  October,  1891. 

The  island  of  Penang  was  acquired  by  the  English 
Government  by  cession  from  a  native  prince  in  1785  for 
the  small  annual  payment  of  $6,000.  It  is  two  miles 
from  the  mainland,  and  is  twelve  miles  long  and  nine 
wide.  Later,  a  small  strip  was  taken  possession  of  on 
the  opposite  coast  to  arrest  the  Malay  piracy  of  that  part 
of  the  high  seas.  This  strip  is  known  as  Province 
Wellesley  and  was  purchased  for  an  annuity  of  $2,000. 

Borneo   was  now   sought  to  be  entered.     The   Dutch 


192  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

claim  a  population  of  a  million  and  a  quarter  in  their 
part  of  the  territory.  They  are  chiefly  Malays,  Chinese, 
and  the  original  inhabitants,  Dyaks. 

The  British  North  Borneo  Company  had  recently  be- 
come possessed  of  a  valuable  strip  of  territory  in  the 
island,  said  to  contain  thirty  thousand  square  miles,  hav- 
ing a  coast-line  of  nine  hundred  miles.  It  was  placed 
under  the  Straits  Settlements'  Government  with  head- 
quarters at  Sandaken,  a  thousand  miles  from  Singapore, 
a  little  farther  from  Hong  Kong,  and  sixteen  hundred 
miles  from  Australia. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1891, 
and  before  Dr.  Floyd  was  stricken  down,  he  and  Dr. 
Leuring  went  to  Borneo  to  seek  a  location  to  begin  a 
Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  on  this  vast  island.  Sev- 
eral weeks  were  spent  in  the  search.  Several  points  were 
visited  in  the  northern  ])ortion  of  the  island  under  Brit- 
ish control,  and  some  exploring  trips  were  made  into 
the  interior,  and  all  possible  information  was  gathered 
concerning  the  natives  and  the  best  location  for  a 
mission. 

At  last  it  was  decided  that  Dr.  Leuring  should  remain 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Kimanis  River  in  British  North 
Borneo  and  begin  some  work  among  the  natives  near 
the  coast,  of  whom  there  were  considerable  numbers 
living  in  villages  along  the  river  ;  and  later,  if  ])ossi- 
ble,  extend  the  work  eastward  over  the  mountains  in 
the  densely  populated  Limbawang  country.  If  this 
should  not  be  found  practicable,  he  might  move  into 
Dutch  Borneo  farther  south  in  the  island.  They  found 
an  interesting  class  of  people  kindly  disposed  toward 
ihem,  almost  destitute  of  any  religion. 


Malaysia  Mission  Conference  Organized.         193 

2.  Malaysia  Mission  Conference  Organized. 

Hitherto  the  JNIahiysia  mission  has  been  considered, 
first,  as  a  far  out-lying  station  of  the  Rangoon  District 
of  the  South  India  and  Bengal  Conference,  and  then  as 
a  separate  mission.  Now  it  was  to  pass  to  another 
degree  of  development  and  organic  life.  The  General 
Conference,  May,  1S92,  at  Omaha,  had  provided  that 
the  mission  should  become  a  Mission  Annual  Confer- 
ence. When,  therefore.  Bishop  Thoburn  summoned  the 
members  of  the  mission  to  their  annual  gathering,  it  was 
to  effect  this  new  ecclesiastical  change  by  organizing 
the  mission  into  this  limited  form  of  an  Annual  Con- 
ference. 

The  mission  convened  in  Christian  Institute,  Middle 
Road,  Singapore,  April  i,  1893.  Bishop  Thoburn  an- 
nounced the  following  members  as  constituting  this  new 
body,  they  being  accordingly  transferred  to  it  from  the 
Conferences  in  which  their  membership  had  been  pre- 
viously held  : 

Ralph  W.  Munson,  Benjamin  F.  West,  Daniel  D. 
Moore,  and  William  H.  B.  Urch,  from  the  Bengal  Con- 
ference;  Henry  L.  E.  Leuring,  from  the  Germany  Con- 
ference. Probationers  by  transfer  were  Benjamin  H. 
Balderston,  William  G.  Shellabear,  William  T.  Kensett, 
and  John  Deatker,  from  the  Bengal  Conference  ;  Charles 
C.  Kelso,  from  the  Detroit  Conference.  William  J.  Wa- 
ger and  George  F.  Pykett  were  admitted  on  trial.  B.  H. 
Balderston  was  admitted  in  full  connection  and  elected 
to  Deacon's  and  Elder's  orders,  and  C.  C.  Kelso  to  El- 
der's orders.  Mr.  Balderston  retired  on  account  of  ill 
health. 

As  this  is  an  epochal  point  in  the  Mission's  history 


194  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tlie  list  of  tlie  appointments  of  both  men  and  women  is 
of  interest.  They  were  as  follows:  Ralph  W.  Munson, 
Presiding  Elder.  Missionaries :  Ralph  W.  Munson, 
Malay  Mission  and  Boys'  Orphanage  ;  Benjamin  F. 
West  (on  health  leave),  in  the  United  States  ;  Henry  L. 
E.  Leuring,  Chinese  Mission,  Singapore  ;  William  G. 
Shellabear,  Superintendent  of  the  Press  and  Malay  Mis- 
sion ;  D.  Davies  Moore,  Penang  Mission  ;  Benjamin  H. 
Balderston,  in  the  United  States ;  William  H.  B.  Urch, 
Pastor  of  the  English  Church  ;  Charles  C.  Kelso,  Prin- 
cipal Anglo-Chinese  School  ;  George  F.  Pykett,  Princi- 
pal Anglo-Chinese  School,  Penang  ;  William  J.  Wager, 
Manager  Mission  Press;  John  F.  Deatker,  in  India; 
William  T.  Kensett,  on  leave  to  attend  school  in  Amer- 
ica. Assistant  missionaries  :  Mrs.  Munson,  woman's 
work,  Malay  ;  Mrs.  Kelso,  woman's  work,  English  ; 
Mrs.  Leuring,  woman's  work,  Chinese ;  Mrs.  Shella- 
bear (sick  leave),  in  England  ;  Mrs.  West  (health  leave), 
in  United  States.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society: 
Miss  EmmaE.  Ferris,  Superintendent  Deaconess  Home  ; 
Miss  Josephine  M.  Hebinger,  work  among  Chinese ; 
Miss  Sophia  Blackmore  (sick  leave),  in  Australia. 

The  Woman's  Conference  was  organized  after  the 
manner  of  those  which  had  been  developed  in  the  other 
India  Conferences.  The  educational  development  of 
the  mission  in  eight  years  from  nothing  to  eight  hundred 
boys  and  girls  in  the  schools  at  this  juncture  in  their 
history  was  stimulating.  The  publishing  department 
had  outgrown  its  quarters.  Two  hundred  hymns  had 
been  published  in  Malay,  an  almanac  in  Chinese,  the 
gospel  of  Luke  in  Malay  and  Javanese,  the  Book  of 
Proverbs  in  Malay  and  in  Roman  letters.  The  member- 
ship now  numbered  io6;  probationers,  56;  adult  baptisms. 


Malaysia  Mission  Conference  Orga?iized.         195 

16  ;  Sunday-school  scholars,  205,  and  the  property  was 
valued  at  $11,500.  The  work  at  Penang  had  been  en- 
couraging in  its  results.  The  Boys'  School  rapidly  ad- 
vanced to  more  than  a  hundred  on  the  roll.  It  was 
situated  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  the  missionaries  being 
the  only  Europeans  in  that  quarter.  A  service  had  been 
opened  in  the  Chinese  hospital  with  a  Chinese  catechist 
from  Singapore,  a  large  number  of  patients  attending  the 
service.  Miss  Young  was  secured  to  inaugurate  work 
as  teacher  and  visitor  among  Chinese  women,  especially 
in  the  poorest  Baba  homes,  Babas  being  the  term  by 
w^hich  Straits-born  Chinese  were  designated.  The  Anglo- 
Chinese  Girls'  School  was  an  accomplished  fact.  Four 
thousand  dollars  were  pledged  toward  erecting  a  school 
building  on  condition  that  it  be  duplicated  from  other 
sources.  The  missionary  served  as  chaplain  to  the 
English  soldiers  in  the  barracks  who  preferred  Wesleyan 
services,  and  open-air  meetings  met  with  some  favorable 
response. 

Dr.  West  made  a  tour  of  exploration  to  Sumatra. 
He  reached  Siboga,  the  port  of  entrance  for  the  resi- 
dence of  Silindong,  in  nine  days  from  Singapore.  Silin- 
dong  was  forty-five  miles  distant,  to  be  reached  by 
horseback  or  on  foot.  Thence  he  went  to  Padang 
Sedempuan,  sixty-seven  miles  on  foot,  looking  into  the 
Rhenish  missions.  He  found  a  large  tract  of  country 
south  of  this  in  whicli  there  was  no  missionary.  The 
inhabitants  are  Battas,  who  about  fifty  years  before  be- 
came Mohammedans,  and  it  was  among  these  people 
that  Miss  Needham,  an  English  lady  of  means  at  Silin- 
dong, desired  that  a  Methodist  mission  should  be  estab- 
lished. There  were  several  large  towns  in  the  interior. 
There  Avas  but  one  missionary  on  the  entire  east  coast. 


196  jNIethodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Fifty  years  before  two  American  Board  missionaries 
had  tried  to  enter  Sumatra  from  the  south,  but  perished 
in  the  attempt.  They  were  young  men,  and  their  moth- 
ers were  then  widows.  The  pathetic  story  of  the  mother 
of  Henry  Lyman,  one  of  the  two,  and  lier  noble  senti- 
ments are  widely  known.  On  hearing  of  the  horrible  mur- 
der of  her  son  she  cried  out,  not  with  regret  that  she  Iiad 
lost  her  own  son,  but  said,  "  O,  what  can  those  poor  peo- 
ple do  without  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ."  During 
Mr.  Oldham's  visit  to  Java  on  one  occasion  he  met  two 
Christian  young  men  from  Sumatra  who  were  of  tlie 
tribe  who  had  murdered  Lyman  and  his  associate. 
They  urged  him  to  begin  a  mission  among  their  people. 
They  w'ere  acquainted  with  the  treatment  accorded  the 
early  missionaries,  but  assured  him  nothing  but  a  kindly 
reception  would  await  missionaries  now  among  the  Bat- 
tas.  Sumatra  is  under  Holland,  and  perhaps  half  of 
the  four  millions  of  people  are  in  the  Dutch  settlements. 
Buddhism  was  introduced  into  the  island  from  Lidia,  but 
was  superseded  by  Mohammedanism,  and  the  sea  coast 
had  many  independent  Mohammedan  Malay  princes. 

The  second  session  of  the  Mission  Annual  Confer- 
ence convened  February  14,  1894,  Bishop  Thoburn  pre- 
siding. Several  members  of  the  Conference  were  away 
seeking  restoration  of  health.  The  new  building  of  the 
Anglo-Chinese  School  was  formally  dedicated  July  21, 
1893,  and  it  proved  a  very  interesting  occasion.  The 
chief  justice  of  the  colony,  the  Hon.  J.  W.  Bonser,  pre- 
sided. One  of  the  speakers,  a  prominent  Chinese,  a 
member  of  the  government  legislative  council  who  had 
great  wealth,  expressed  the  high  appreciation  in  which 
the  Chinese  community  held  the  school.  Other  eminent 
Europeans  and  Chinese  were  participants  on  this  occa- 


Malaysia  Mission  X^onference  Organized.         197 

sion,  and  the  local  daily  press  spoke  enthusiastically  of 
the  enterprise.  The  building  itself  was  imposing  and 
attractive  and  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  work. 
The  daily  attendance  had  swelled  to  four  hundred,  the 
largest  school  numerically,  except  that  at  Lucknow,  in 
all  the  foreign  fields  of  the  Methodist  Church.  It  was 
an  inspiring  sight  to  witness  these  four  hundred  youth 
listening  in  the  new  lecture  room  to  Bible  instruction. 
The  boarding  department  was  doing  well.  The  num- 
ber of  Christian  boys  steadily  increasing  in  the  school 
was  taken  as  an  index  that  the  sentiment  favorable  to 
education  was  growing  in  the  little  Christian  community, 
and  as  the  most  influential  Chinese  families  were  repre- 
sented in  the  school,  there  was  encouragement  to  hope 
that  the  leaders  of  society  in  the  near  future  were  being 
trained  in  this  Christian  school. 

The  colonial  Government  Inspector  of  Schools  was 
reported  to  have  recently  said  that  it  seemed  but  a  ques- 
tion of  time  when  the  Mission  would  monopolize  educa- 
tion in  the  colony,  because  the  cost  to  the  government 
in  the  Anglo-Chinese  School  was  only  eleven  dollars  per 
pupil  for  the  past  year,  while  it  was  four  times  as  much 
in  the  great  rival  which  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  the 
government.  The  school  was  self-supporting.  Liberal 
grants-in-aid  and  monthly  fees  provided  for  all  expenses, 
including  salaries.  The  inspector  gave  the  school  credit 
for  its  work  in  the  high  standards  it  maintained. 

The  Chinese  mission  under  Dr.  Leuring  reported  hav- 
ing received  sixty-one  persons  on  probation  since  the 
preceding  April.  Many  of  these  were  natives  of  Hing- 
hua  or  Hokchiang  in  the  bounds  of  the  Foochow  Con- 
ference, some  of  them  having  relatives  belonging  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  those  places. 


198  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

There  was  no  Malay  church  nor  any  Malay  converts, 
yet  Rev.  R.  W.  Munson  reported  that  they  had  maintained 
Malay  service  with  a  little  band  of  Baba  Chinese  Chris- 
tians connected  with  the  schools  and  some  of  the  serv- 
ants employed  in  them.  Mr.  Wm.  G.  Shellabear,  who 
was  appointed  to  this  mission  in  1890,  had  been  in 
charge  of  the  press  and  preached  regularly  in  Malay,  be- 
sides having  gone  on  a  visit  to  England  ;  Mr.  Munson 
was  editing  the  "  Malaysia  Message."  An  edition  of  two 
thousand  of  the  Gospel  in  Luke  in  Javanese  (Arabic  char- 
acters) was  issued  from  the  press  ;  five  thousand  of  the 
same  in  Malay,  and  five  thousand  copies  of  Proverbs 
also  in  Malay.  Orders  were  on  hand  for  good-sized  edi- 
tions of  other  portions  of  the  Scriptures  in  Malay. 
Twenty  Malay  hymns,  a  Chinese  almanac,  and  other 
l)ublications,  aggregating  in  all  1,917,450  pages,  were 
reported  by  Mr.  Shellabear  as  the  year's  output  of  the 
press.  Some  thirty  Tamil  boys  were  in  a  day  school  held 
for  that  part  of  the  people.  The  English  church,  under 
William  H.  B.  Urcli  since  March  preceding,  had  raised 
^2,000  to  remodel  the  church  building.  Preaching  was 
conducted  for  soldiers  of  the  garrison  ;  a  soldier's  home 
in  the  city  was  established  by  contribution  of  $1,200  from 
the  military  and  mercantile  community  of  the  city. 

The  Penang  mission,  begun  July,  1891,  by  D.  1). 
Moore  and  B.  H.  Balderston  as  already  related,  now  con- 
sisted of  English,  Baba,  and  Tamil  work  and  the  work 
of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  The  Baba 
work  had  a  large  field  among  the  numerous  Straits-born 
Chinese,  though  it  was  mainly  prosecuted  by  personal 
visitation  from  house  to  house.  A  Tamil  boys'  school, 
begun  this  year,  enrolled  fifty-two  pupils,  twenty  of 
whom    attended     Sunday-school.     The    Anglo-Chinese 


Malaysia  Mission  Conference  Organized.         199 

school  building  was  incapable  of  serving  tlie  growing 
attendance,  and  plans  were  under  consideration  to 
secure  better  quarters. 

Miss  Blackmore  had  been  reinforced  by  Miss  Emma  E. 
Ferris  and  Miss  Josephine  Hebinger,  who  arrived  from 
America  November,  1S92,  sent  out  by  the  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society.  Miss  Eva  Foster  was  also  ap- 
pointed to  this  field.  Miss  Blackmore,  finding  the  school 
well  cared  for  by  the  other  ladies,  entered  upon  evangel- 
istic work,  for  which  her  command  of  the  language  and 
her  acquaintance  with  the  people  specially  fitted  her. 
The  Tamil  school  had  grown  from  nine,  when  it  was 
opened  in  August  15,  1887,  to  ninety-five  on  the  roll, 
though  they  were  not  all  Tamil  girls. 

The  "  Mary  C.  Nind  Deaconess  Home,"  situated  on 
Mt.  Sophia,  had  three  acres  of  land  with  growing  orna- 
mental trees,  in  the  midst  of  which  was  the  large  and 
airy  house.  The  Boarding  School  had  twenty-four 
girls.  As  many  as  thirty  children  had  been  in  the 
Chinese  Girls'  School.  The  English  Girls'  School  had 
twenty-five  pupils.  Miss  Hebinger  was  in  charge  of 
rescue  work,  also  matron  of  the  Anglo-Chinese  Boarding 
School  and  missionary  to  Chinese  women. 

The  Mission  now  numbered  9  foreign  missionaries, 
7  wives  of  missionaries,  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  3;  native  unordained  preachers,  4;  other  helpers, 
24  ;  members,  109  ;  probationers,  136  ;  adherents,  260  ; 
average  Sabbath  congregation,  308  ;  high  schools,  2  ; 
pupils,  38  ;  day  schools,  7 ;  scholars,  876  ;  Sabbath- 
schools,  8;  scholars,  233;  orphans,  12;  churches,  2; 
value,  $4,745  ;  homes,  value  $1,700  ;  orphanage,  school 
building,  hospital,  press,  value  $33,150;  self-support, 
$2,600  ;  pages  printed,  1,917,450. 


PART  X. 
MISSION    TO    BULGARIA 


l\-ofessing  ihcmseh'es  to  be  ivisty  they  became  /ools^  and  changed  the  gtory 
0/  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  ivtage  made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to 
hirdsy  and  four/ootcJ  beasts,  and  creeping  things.  Where/ore  God  also  gave 
them  up  to  uncleanness,  through  the  lusts  0/ their  own  hearts. — Rom.  t,  S2-Z4. 

1 .   Preparatory  Steps. 

TOURING  the  meeting  of  the  General  Committee,  in 
November,  1852,  the  Corresponding  Secretary  re- 
ported voluminous  correspondence  concerning  a  mis- 
sion to  Bulgaria,  and  among  the  Greeks  in  Constanti- 
nople; whereupon  it  was 

''''Resolved.,  That  a  fund  be  created  and  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Board  and  Bishop  superintending  foreign 
missions,  for  the  commencement  of  a  mission  in  Bulga- 
ria to  the  amount  of  35,000." 

From  this  time  onward  an  appropriation,  greater  or 
less  in  amount,  was  made  from  year  to  year,  till  the 
mission  was  actually  opened  in  1857. 

In  the  year  1854  Rev.  Elias  Riggs,  D.D.,  Secretary  of 
the  Mission  Station  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions  at  Constantinople,  under 
date  of  November  3,  addressed  a  letter  to  Dr.  Durbin, 
recommending  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to  adopt  Bulgaria  as  a  mission  field. 

This  letter  was  inclosed  in  one  from  the  Secretaries  of 
U 


202  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  American  Board,  also  earnestly  advising  us  to  enter 
this  field.  Possibly  these  catholic-spirited  brethren  were 
prompted  to  think  of  us  for  the  field  because  we  had  al- 
ready thought  of  the  field  for  ourselves.  The  advice 
of  Bishops  Waugh  and  Simpson  was  now  sought  upon  the 
subject.^  and  they  approved  of  undertaking  the  work. 
These  facts  and  communications  were  all  laid  before 
the  Board  in  February,  1S55,  and  it  was  unanimously 

''''Resolved,  That  $3,000  out  of  the  contingency  at  the 
discretion  of  the  Board,  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  the 
Committee  on  India  and  Turkey  for  commencing  a  mis- 
sion in  Bulgaria,  Turkey,  with  the  proper  concurrence 
and  action  of  the  Bishops  in  charge  of  said  territory." 

Bulgaria,  according  to  its  ancient  boundaries,  in- 
cluded what  was  at  that  time  called  the  Vilayet  of 
the  Danube,  a  territory  extending  from  Servia  on  the 
west  three  hundred  miles  eastward  to  the  Black  Sea, 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Danube,  which  separates 
it  from  Roumania,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Balkan 
Mountains  and  the  greater  part  of  the  ancient  Thrace 
and  Macedonia,  extending  from  the  Balkans  southward 
to  the  ^gean  Sea. 

In  the  ninth  century  the  Bulgarians  were  led  to  ac- 
cept Christianity  as  taught  by  the  Eastern  or  Greek 
Church.  This  brought  them  under  the  ecclesiastical 
domination  of  their  ancient  political  enemies,  the  Byzan- 
tines, and  the  Greek  Patriarchates  exerted  itself  to  the 
utmost  to  Hellenize  the  v/hole  of  Bulgaria.  Their  an- 
cient language,  more  known  as  the  Church  Slavic,  was 
banished  from  the  churches,  and  Grecian  priests  and 
Bishops  ruled  the  people  with  a  rod  of  iron. 

The  field  was  visited  by  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board  who,  while  they   recognized  the   importance   of 


Preparatory  Steps.  203 

the  work,  could  not  spare  the  men  and  means  to  fully 
occupy  it.  Hence  it  was  determined  lo  invite  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  take  a  jjorlion  of  the 
field  while  they  occupied  the  remainder.  The  call  was 
so  clearly  providential  that  it  could  not  fall  unheeded. 

2.  Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located. 
Rev.  Wesley  Prettyman  and  Rev.  Albert  L.  Long  were 
designated  by  the  Bishops  for  this  work,  and  went  out  in 
1857,  with  joint  authority  to  institute  the  mission  and  con- 
duct it  till  a  superintendent  should  be  appointed.  They 
arrived  in  Constantinople  in  September,  and  were  cor 
dially  welcomed  by  the  brethren  of  the  American  Board 
Bishop  Simpson  was  happily  at  Constantinople  at  the  mo 
ment  of  their  arrival,  and  they  were  able  to  avail  them- 
selves of  his  counsels.  As  soon  as  possible  they  entered 
upon  a  tour  of  observation  in  Bulgaria,  with  a  view  of  lo- 
cating the  head-quarters  of  the  mission,  Ur.  Bliss  accom- 
panying them,  and  giving  them  all  the  benefit  of  his  long 
experience  in  the  country.  They  took  steamer  from  Con- 
stantinople to  Varna,  on  the  Black  Sea.  Thence  they 
passed  inland  to  the  west  till  they  reached  Shumla, 
forty-five  miles  from  the  sea,  and  thence  proceeded  to 
Rustchuk,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Danube.  The  coun- 
try was  beautiful,  fruitful,  and  populous;  the  Turkish 
authorities  were  tolerant  and  kind,  and  the  Christian 
population  every-where  gave  them  a  cordial  reception 
They  were  surprised  and  delighted  with  what  they  saw, 
and  fixed  upon  Varna  and  Shumla  as  their  mission  sta- 
tions. After  maturer  reflection,  and  advice  from  the 
Corresponding  Secretary,  they  determined  to  occupy 
but  one  central  location,  and  that  Shumla,  a  city  con- 
taining forty  thousand  people,  eight  thousand  of  whom 
were  Bulgarians. 


204 


Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 


Settled  in  their  homes,  they  addressed  themselves 
with  great  diligence  to  the  acquisition  of  the  language 
— no  easy  task  in  the  entire  absence  of  necessary  helps, 
Some  time  elapsed  before  they  were  able  to  make  the 
people  generally  understand  who  they  were,  or  apon 
wha*  errand  they  had  come  to  Bulgaria;  but  they  were 


■f-^ 


EENTED    MISSION    I'UE.MISIOS   AT   SIIUMLA. 

convinced  of  the  importance  of  the  field,  and  of  its 
being  occupied  in  greater  force.  Representing  their 
views  to  the  Board,  Bishop  Janes,  on  November  12, 
1858,  added  to  the  mission  the  Rev.  F.  W.  Flocken, 
who,  a  month  from  that  time,  was  on  his  way  to  Bul- 
garia. 


Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located.       205 

The  missionaries  had  been  informed  that  in  'rultclia. 
a  Turkish  town  in  extreme  Eastern  Bulgaria  called 
Dobrudja,  quite  a  number  of  Russians  and  Germans, 
who  had  been  driven  from  Russia  because  of  differences 
ofopinion  with  the  Greek  Church,  desired  to  enjoy  evan- 
gelical Protestant  worship.  Mr.  Flocken,  who  spoke 
both  Russian  and  German,  was  therefore  instructed  to 
open  his  mission  in  this  town,  and  in  the  meantime  to  de- 
vote himself  to  acquiring  the  Bulgarian  language.  Leav- 
ing his  family  at  Odessa,  on  the  Black  Sea,  he  proceeded 
to  Tultcha,  and  thence  to  Shumla;  where,  after  consul- 
tation with  his  associates,  he  decided  to  remain,  so  that 
all  three  missionaries  could  work  together  from  one  cen- 
ter, at  least  till  they  had  gained  better  command  of  the 
language  of  the  country.  A  few  months  afterward  this 
plan  was  changed,  letters  from  prominent  Bulgarians  in 
Tirnova  being  received  which  led  the  missionaries  to 
think  that  their  way  to  this  city  might  now  be  providen- 
tially opened.  To  determine  whether  or  not  it  were  so 
Messrs.  Long  and  Prettyman  resolved  to  visit  Tirnova. 

This  city  is  very  romantically  situated  among  some 
detached  spurs  of  the  Balkan  Mountains,  and  is  about 
seventy-two  miles  nearly  due  west  by  south  from  Shumla. 
The  small  river  Yantra  forces  itself  through  a  deep,  wind- 
ing passage  in  the  rocks,  and  the  city,  being  built  on  both 
banks  of  tlie  stream,  assumes  a  very  peculiar  appearance, 
exceedingly  difficult  to  describe.  Tirnova  has  not  so 
great  an  area  as  Shumla,  but  is  much  more  compactly 
built,  and  is  estimated  to  contain  at  least  one  third  more 
inhabitants.  The  brief  description  of  this  place  in  the 
"Gazetteer"  was  found  singularly  incorrect,  the  popula- 
tion being  at  least  three  and  a  half  times  greater  than 
that  given  in  that  work  ;  and  as  to  the  synagogues  there 
mentioned,  it  had  long  been  the  boast  of  both  Turk.s 


2o6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

and  Bulgarians  tliat  Tirnova  contained  not  a  single  Jew. 
Although  the  population  of  the  city  was  pretty  equally 
divided  between  Turks  and  Bulgarians,  yet  it  might  be 
emphatically  called  a  Bulgarian  city,  since  Bulgarians 
controlled  its  business,  and  their  influence  is  more  de- 
cided than  in  any  other  city  of  the  province.  Four  fine 
churches,  built  of  stone  and  in  good  st3de,  and  long 
rows  of  warehouses  and  stores,  attested  the  enterprise 
of  the  people,  and  impressed  travelers  who  have  visited 
other  places  in  the  province  that  Tirnova  was  far  in  ad- 
vance of  them  all  in  commercial  activity  and  industrial 
pursuits.  Bulgarian  influence  in  Tirnova  was  steadily 
on  the  increase,  the  Turks  being  crowded  farther  and 
farther  back  every  year  by  Bulgarians,  who  were  buy- 
ing their  houses  sometimes  at  a  triple  price,  merely  to 
get  the  Turks  out  of  the  way. 

This  was  certainly  a  most  inviting  place  for  a  mission 
station,  and  its  immediate  occupancy  was  determined 
upon.  By  common  consent  Mr.  Long  was  deemed  best 
qualified  for  the  undertaking,  and  accordingly,  on  Sep- 
tember 17,  1859,  he  and  his  family  removed  from  Shumla 
to  Tirnova.  This  was  accomplished  just  in  time  to  pre- 
vent the  Roman  Catholics  from  seizing  this  beautiful 
post  and  preoccupying  it  with  the  "  Lazarists "  from 
Constantinople. 

Never  were  Romanists  more  full  of  guile  than  here  in 
Bulgaria.  In  the  oppressed  condition  of  the  people 
they  offered  them  the  protection  of  the  Pope,  making 
mysterious  allusions  to  France  as  the  arm  by  which  ihey 
were  to  be  defended  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Greek  Pa- 
triarch. They  also  proposed  that  the  Bulgarian  ritual 
and  dogmas  should  be  allowed,  and  they  promised  them 
Bulgarian  ecclesiastics  of  all  grades. 

Mr.  Long  found  that  these  bribes  had  not  in  the  leasl 


Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located.       207 

propitiated  the  leading  Bulgarians  of  Tirnova,  but  that 
they  turned  toward  Protestantism  as  their  only  hope 
of  deliverance.  The  missionaries  were  received  with 
special  favor,  as  it  was  understood  that  they  came 
not  to  displace  any  thing  that  was  good,  but  to  vital- 
ize and  purify  the  dead  formalism  of  the  Bulgarian 
Church. 

On  December  24,  1859,  in  his  home  at  Tirnova,  Mr. 
Long  commenced  holding  regular  public  religious  serv- 
ices exclusively  in  the  Bulgarian  language.  About  fif- 
teen persons  were  present  on  the  first  occasion.  On 
the  following  Sabbath  there  were  twenty-two  attend- 
ants. Murmurs  and  threats  soon  began  to  be  heard, 
and  it  was  feared  they  would  increase  until  no  one 
would  dare  to  attend  the  services. 

The  work  had  scarcely  opened  at  Tirnova  before  it 
was  denounced  from  tlie  pulpit,  and  the  people  officially 
warned  not  to  hear  Mr.  Long  preach.  A  bigoted  monk, 
who  was  a  candidate  for  the  episcopacy,  and  conse- 
quently willing  to  show  his  zeal  in  defense  of  the  faith, 
was  made  the  instrument  of  this  denunciation.  He 
ascended  the  pulpit  of  the  largest  church  in  the  city 
of  Tirnova,  and  gave  the  people  a  very  boisterous  ha- 
rangue upon  the  subject  of  Protestantism.  He  told  them 
that  the  Protestants  were  not  Christians,  for  they  re- 
jected baptism ;  they  rejected  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
all  the  other  sacraments  and  holy  ordinances  of  the 
Chiistian  Church.  He  then  gave  them  a  special  warn- 
ing against  the  Protestant  missionary  who  had  lately 
appeared  among  them.  He  said :  "  This  man  appears 
very  pleasant  and  very  friendly.  With  his  conduct  no 
one  can  find  fault.  Many  praise  him,  and  are  disposed 
to  be  friendly  to  him.  His  words  are  sweet ;  but  wolves 
may  come  in  sheep's  clothing.     Hartshorn  is  a  substance 


2o8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

fair  on  the  outside,  and  might  be  mistaken  for  white 
sugar,  but  it  is  deadly  poison  when  swallowed."  He 
then  forbade,  under  pain  of  excommunication,  their  at- 
tending the  Protestant  services.  Notwithstanding  all 
this  Mr.  Long's  congregation  grew  till  a  larger  place  of 
worship  was  necessary. 

Mr.  Long  was  not  left  entirely  without  encouiage- 
ment.  Two  Bulgarian  priests  called  at  his  house,  one 
of  whom  had  called  before,  and  during  that  previous 
visit  complained,  with  tears,  of  the  lapsed  condition  of 
Christianity  among  his  people.  He  declared  that  his 
people  bore  the  Christian  name,  but  knew  nothing 
about  Christianity.  "  I  am  a  poor,  weak,  ignorant  man," 
said  he;  "what  can  I  do.'  My  people  have  no  in- 
struction, and  when  I  exhort  them  they  will  not  even 
hear  me.  When  I  tell  them  they  must  pray,  they  say, 
'  We  are  not  priests ;  it  is  your  business  to  do  the  pray- 
ing.* They  call  themselves  Christians,  but  they  do  no* 
love  God.  They  do  not  love  the  Saviour,  and  do  not 
keep  his  commandments."  On  this  occasion  he  came 
to  ask  Mr.  Long  to  lend  him  a  Bible.  He  said,  "  I 
went  to  the  oekonom — senior  or  superior  priest — and 
asked  him  to  lend  me  a  Bible ;  but  he  asked  me  what 
business  I  had  with  a  Bible,  and  declared  the  Bible  was 
not  a  book  for  me  to  read.  Now  I  am  a  priest,  and  do 
not  see  why  I  should  not  read  the  Bible  Will  you  lend 
me  one  ? " 

At  this  juncture  Gabriel  Elieff,  a  devoted  Bulgarian, 
the  first  Protestant  convert  of  the  land,  who  had  been 
for  some  time  in  the  employ  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  joined  Mr.  Long  in  his  work,  as  colporteus 
iind  assistant.  In  his  mountain  home  among  the  Bal- 
kans Gabriel  had  received  a  copy  of  the  first  edition  of 
the  Bulgarian  Testament   published  by  the  British   and 


Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located.        209 

Foieign  Bible  Society,  at  Smyrna,  in  1840.  Through  a 
prayerful  reading  of  this  book  his  mind  was  enlightened, 
and  he  was  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Saviour. 
Never  having  heard  of  Protestantism,  he  supposed  he 
stood  alone  in  the  new  position  he  had  assumed.  Meet- 
ing iome  time  afterward  with  an  American  colporteur, 
sent  out  by  the  missionaries  at  Constantinople,  and  en- 
gaging in  conversation  with  him,  he  was  surprised  to 
find  that  he  was  a  Protestant.  By  the  advice  of  the 
colporteur  he  went  to  Constantinople,  and,  under  the 
pious  instructions  of  the  missionaries,  grew  in  grace  and 
in  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  in  due  time  was  em- 
ployed as  colporteur  among  his  people.  We  will  find 
the  faithful  brother  in  every  part  of  the  history  of  the 
mission.  He  has  shared  all  its  vicissitudes,  and  been 
the  inspiration  for  its  continuance. 

The  work  at  Tirnova  seemed  to  be  propitiously  inaug- 
urated and  providentially  arranged  for.  We  must  now 
turn  back  to  Shumla.  Messrs.  Prettyman  and  Flocken 
continued  their  studies  and  their  work,  the  former  hold- 
ing services  in  English,  and  the  latter  preaching  in 
German.  The  families  of  the  mission  attended,  and  a 
few  Bulgarians  and  German  people.  The  simplicity  of 
these  services,  and  the  freedom  from  ecclesiastical  dom- 
ination so  evident  among  Protestants,  excited  the  ad- 
miration of  the  priest-ridden  Bulgarians,  and  served  to 
increase,  also,  their  discontent  with  the  state  of  things 
among  themselves.  Many  interesting  cases  were  devel- 
oped as  the  work  proceeded.  A  young  German,  .of 
Protestant  father  and  Papist  mother,  upon  the  decease 
of  his  mother,  started  to  fulfill  a  promise  exacted  from 
him  by  her  when  she  was  dying,  that  he  would  go  on 
foot  to  Jerusalem,  and  there  pray  for  the  peace  of  her 
50ul.     Stopping  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Flocken,  he  learned 


2IO  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions.     • 

the  useless  nature  of  his  errand,  and  sought  and  found 
in  Christ  the  love  of  a  forgiving  God. 

Mr  Flocken,  also,  found  a  young  man  connected  with 
the  Prussian  Consulate  who  was  intending  to  marry  a 
Jewess.  She  expressed  a  wish  to  be  instructed  in  the 
way  of  salvation,  and  to  be  baptized.  She  made  such 
progress  that  Mr.  Flocken  soon  consented  to  baptize 
her,  and  shortly  afterward  he  performed  the  marriage 
ceremony  for  them,  in  the  presence  of  about  sixty  per- 
sons— Bulgarians,  Greeks,  French,  and  Germans.  The 
simplicity  of  our  ritual  was  greatly  admired,  and  the 
absence  of  the  customary  ball  was  a  wonder  to  the 
people. 

When  lodging  with  families  the  missionaries  would 
induce  the  youth  to  read  to  the  rest  of  the  household 
from  the  Bulgarian  Testament,  and  they  would  super- 
add their^wn  words  of  comment  and  application,  often 
with  blessed  effect. 

On  one  occasion,  as  Mr.  Flocken  was  at  early  morn 
leaving  one  of  the  villages,  a  young  man  appeared  before 
him  with  an  earthen  bowl.  It  was  St.  John's  day  and  a 
custom  prevailed  to  baptize  on  this  day  all  Johns  and 
strangers,  in  imitation  of  John's  baptism.  Mr.  Flocken 
declined  the  honor,  and  availed  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  exhorting  the  bystanders  to  think  not  so  much 
of  forms,  but  to  seek  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
The  work  of  the  missionaries  was  every-where  largely 
one  of  personal  effort  for  individuals,  and  in  such  labors 
their  chief  successes  were  found. 

The  year  1861  was  the  tenth  centennial  of  the  bap- 
tism of  Boris,  the  first  Bulgarian  king.  This  had  taken 
place  at  what  is  called  the  Holy  Spring,  twelve  miles 
from  Shumla,  where  stood  in  those  times  the  capital  of 
the  country.     Long  as  the  land  has  been  Christian,  the 


Missionaries  Appointed  and  Located.         2 1 1 

Bulgarians  still  retain  in  many  places  the  festivals  of 
their  heathen  gods.  The  alleged  birthday  of  Colida,  a 
heathen  deity,  was  December  24.  Those  who  have 
learned  enough  of  Christianity  to  know  the  commonly 
assigned  date*of  the  Saviour's  birth  celebrate  Christmas, 
but  others  continue  the  revelries  which  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years  have  been  attached  to  the  day  preceding 
it.  They  bring  from  the  forest  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  some- 
times dragging  it  by  cords  held  in  their  mouths.  Cut- 
ting the  rude  features  of  a  man  upon  the  tree,  they  feast 
and  place  food  before  the  image,  crowning  it,  singing  its 
praises,  and  drinking  its  health  until  they  are  intoxi- 
cated. Yet  these  people  are  members  of  the  Eastern 
Church,  which  claims  to  be  the  only  true  Church. 

Mr.  Prettyman  seems  to  have  directed  the  work  at 
Shumla,  and  his  influence  among  the  people  was  con- 
stantly increasing,  so  much  so  as  to  excite  his  own 
astonishment.  Even  the  Bulgarian  priests  were  not 
slow  to  manifest  their  good-will.  From  fifty  miles 
around  they  visited  him,  and  often  invited  him  to  go 
with  them  to  the  sick,  having  more  confidence  in  a  lit- 
tle of  his  medicine  than  in  their  own  anointing  with 
holy  oil,  or  in  any  other  sacerdotal  rites.  Much  seed 
was  thus  sown  in  hidden  places,  that  may  be  even  now 
bringing  forth  fruit.  Mr.  Prettyman  having  the  work 
at  Shumla  quite  well  in  hand,  and  Mr.  Long  that  at 
Tirnova,  it  was  decided  that  Mr.  Flocken  should  visit 
Tultcha,  to  which  their  thoughts  had  so  often  turned, 
and  see  if  there  were  any  opening,  especially  among  the 
Molokans. 

3.  Tultcha  and  the  Molokans. 
Tultcha  is  the  first  city  on  the  Turkish  side  of  the 
Danube,  entering  from  the  Black  Sea.     It  is  separated 


212  Methodist  Etiscopal  Missions. 

from  the  former  frontier  of  Russia  by  the  Danube  only, 
and  its  harbor,  which  admits  ships  of  the  largest  size,  is 
easily  accessible  ;  consequently  it  has  been  several  times 
attacked  and  destroyed  by  the  Russians.  The  number 
of  its  inhabitants  was  said  to  be  twenty-eight  thousand, 
of  whom  seven  hundred  were  Turks,  ten  thousand  Bul- 
garians, seven  thousand  five  hundred  Russians,  three 
thousand  Moldavians,  one  thousand  Jews,  three  thou- 
sand Greeks,  four  hundred  Germans,  and  five  hundred 
Armenians,  the  remainder  being  foreigners  of  other  na- 
tions. It  contained  one  Turkish  mosque,  two  Jewish 
synagogues,  one  Roman  Catholic  church,  one  Moldavian, 
one  Armenian,  one  Bulgarian,  one  Greek,  one  Russo- 
Greek,  three  Lipovans — a  sect  of  Russians — and  one 
meeting-house  of  the  Molokans. 

The  Russian  inhabitants  of  Tultcha  belonged  to  the 
Russo-Greek  Church,  though  some  were  dissenters.  The 
latter  were  divided  into  three  sects:  The  first  and  strong- 
est were  the  Lipovans,  in  Russia  called  Staroverzy  or 
Starobrazy,  which  means  ancient  believers  or  ancient 
ritualists.  Why  they  call  themselves  so,  and  in  what 
they  differ  from  the  Russo-Greek  Church,  we  cannot 
say.  They  were,  doubtless,  groping  in  their  darkness 
for  the  old  paths.  The  second  sect,  which  is  the  small- 
est, are  called  Scopzy,  They  are  a  body  of  eunuchs, 
of  whom  little  else  is  known.  The  third  sect  are  the 
Molokans.  They  have  been  subjects  of  much  interest 
to  Christian  people;  but  little  could  hitherto  be  learned 
of  their  origin  or  creed.  In  Russia  proper,  where  they 
chiefly  exist,  they  have  been  afraid  to  speak  freely  of 
their  belief,  and  no  one  acquainted  with  their  language 
had  visited  them  in  Turkey  to  learn  their  doctrines  or 
usages.  Mr.  Flocken  succeeded  in  gaining  their  confi- 
dence and  in  learning  something  of  their  history. 


TultcJia  and  the  Moloka?!s.  213 

Some  ninety  years  ago,  they  told  him,  thcie  was  a  Rus- 
sian embassador  who  had  in  his  employ  a  young  Rus- 
sian by  the  name  of  Simeon  Matfeowitch,  and  a  young 
woman  by  the  name  of  Arina  Timofeowna.  These  two 
persons  had,  during  their  stay  in  Enghand,  attended  relig- 
ious services,  and  upon  their  return  to  Russia  informed 
their  nearest  friends  of  the  modes  of  worship  prevailing 
in  England,  and  especially  they  spoke  of  some  who  met 
not  in  temples  but  in  dwelling-houses,  and  had  at  their 
places  of  worship  no  kind  of  images,  not  even  a  cross  or 
a  candle ;  who  did  not  fast  like  the  Russians,  or  cross 
themselves,  and  yet  were  a  very  pious  and  earnest  people. 
These  communications  were  received  with  attention  by 
their  nearest  friends,  who  concluded  to  adopt  similar 
modes  of  worship,  retaining,  at  the  same  time,  their 
membership  in  the  Russo-Greek  Church.  They  abol- 
ished from  their  houses  all  images,  cross-making,  and 
fasting  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  on  which  days  they 
lived  principally  on  milk.  This  eating  of  milk  on  the 
Russian  fast-days,  (the  Russian  word  for  milk  being 
moloko,)  induced  some  of  their  enemies  to  call  them  Mol- 
okans;  others  called  them  "Nemolaks,"  which  means, 
Not-prayers,  or  Not-worshipers.  This  name  was  given 
them  by  their  enemies  because  they  did  not  worship 
images,  which,  to  the  Russians  of  the  established  Church, 
is  not  being  worshipers  at  all. 

Their  numbers  increased  considerably,  till  a  persecu- 
tion against  them  broke  out  under  Alexander  I.,  to 
whom  complaints  were  made  against  them.  The  Em- 
peror having  summoned  them  to  come  before  him,  three 
of  their  number  took  it  upon  themselves  to  go,  while 
the  others  remained  at  home  and  prayed  for  their  mes- 
sengers and  their  cause.  These  three  men  begged  per- 
mission of  the  Emperor  to  worship  before  him,  that  he 


214         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

might  see  and  hear  for  himself.  The  Emperor  granted 
their  request,  and,  after  witnessing  their  mode  of  worship, 
he  permitted  them  to  return,  and  thereafter  they  were 
unmolested  until  the  accession  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
under  whom  they  suffered  greatly.  Nevertheless,  they 
have  been  continually  increasing  in  numbers,  until  they 
have  become  about  one  million  in  number,  residing  in 
Russia  proper.  Having  heard  of  the  spirit  of  toleiation 
on  the  part  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  many  of  the  perse- 
cuted Molokans  fled  from  Russia  into  Turkey.  These 
numbered  about  two  hundred  families,  residing  mostly 
in  and  about  Tultcha. 

On  the  day  following  his  arrival  at  Tultcha,  Mr. 
Flocken,  as  invited  by  the  Molokans,  attended  their 
service,  which  was  held  at  the  residence  of  one  of  their 
number.  The  congregation  was  composed  of  about  fifty 
persons.  The  meeting  was  opened  with  singing  a  part 
of  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John ;  then  part  of  the  sixth 
chapter  of  the  Prophet  Hosea  was  sung;  after  which 
their  leader,  a  middle-aged,  plain,  and  simple-hearted 
man,  read  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John  from  the 
Slavic  Bible,  making  a  few  remarks  upon  what  he  read, 
besides  giving  the  sense  in  the  Russian  language.  Then 
they  sang  part  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Philippians, 
after  which,  all  kneeling,  they  engaged  in  silent  prayer ; 
this  was  repeated  three  times,  and  then  they  kissed  each 
other  three  times,  men  and  women  without  distinction. 
The  meeting  was  concluded  with  another  song. 

The  owner  of  the  house  having  previously  prepared 
tea  for  them  all,  they  sat  down  and  drank  it;  this,  how- 
ever was  not  considered  part  of  their  religious  service, 
but  was  a  social  attention  from  the  host. 

While  drinking  tea  with  them  Mr.  Flocken  inquired 
the  significance  of  their  kissing  each  other,  as  he  had 


Tultcha  and  the  Molokans.  2 1 5 

just  witnessed,  and  was  informed  that  tliis  was  practiced 
at  the  close  of  every  service,  because,  under  the  perse- 
cutions to  which  they  had  been  exposed,  they  knew  at 
their  parting  that  their  meeting  again  in  this  world  was 
very  uncertain,  and  they  also  pointed  him  to  the  words 
of  Paul  in  Romans  xvi,  16,  and  i  Cor.  xvi,  20,  and  tc 
other  passages,  in  justification  of  the  practice.  They 
asked  him  for  some  explanation  of  those  passages,  say- 
ing, "We  have  not  had  any  one  who  could  explain  the 
Bible  to  us  in  our  language,  and  we  begin  to  learn  that 
our  creed  and  mode  of  worship  differ  from  others." 
They  declared  their  sincere  desire  to  become  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  apostolic  Church  organization,  and  to 
be  enlightened  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  especially  upon  the  sacraments,  which,  from  a 
hatred  of  formalism,  they  had  held  to  be  purely  spirit- 
ual. They  used 410  water  in  baptism,  and  neither  bread 
nor  wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  Mr.  Flocken  then  told 
them,  that,  if  it  was  the  desire  of  the  Molokans,  he,  with 
tlie  permission  of  the  Missionary  Board,  would  remove 
to  Tultcha,  and  reside  among  them,  to  do  good  to  them 
and  to  their  children.  They  received  this  announce- 
ment with  apparent  gladness. 

Mr.  Prettyman  now  arrived  from  Shumla,  and,  making 
the  acquaintance  of  the  Molokan  friends,  and  visiting 
some  Bulgarians  to  whom  he  had  letters  of  introduction, 
he  preached  on  Sabbath  forenoon  in  English  at  the  house 
of  the  British  Consul;  Mr.  Flocken  preached  in  the 
afternoon,  first  in  German  and  then  in  Russian,  at  the 
liouse  of  the  American  vice-Consul,  to  a  congregation 
of  Germans,  Jews,  and  Russians. 

Mr.  Flocken  wrote  at  this  time,  as  follows:  "While 
at  Tultcha  I  prayed  to  God  to  direct  me  to  a  right  con- 
clusion in  regard  to  the  ]jropnety  of  removing  there.     I 


2i6         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

left  the  city  with  the  conviction  that,  with  great  cart 
and  patience,  by  the  assistance  of  God,  these  people 
could  be  brought  into  a  Church  organization,  schools 
be  established  among  them,  and  through  them  pure 
Gospel  truths  be  brought  into  Russia  proper.  I  cannot 
get  rid  of  the  conviction  that  we  should  occupy  thi> 
field.  Is  it  not  likely  that  those  two  persons  who  had 
been  to  England  visited  the  meetings  of  the  Wesleyans ." 
I  think  it  very  probable,  for  the  simple  reason  that  these 
people  show  such  an  attachment  to  us,  while  they  do 
not  at  all  associate  with  the  German  minister  who  was 
sent  from  Berlin  to  some  German  colonists  in  and  near 
Tultcha,  with  the  hope  that  he  might  be  able  to  find 
access  to  these  people;  he  informed  me  that  it  was  ut- 
terly impossible  to  get  out  of  them,  during  his  year's 
stay,  what  we  had  learned  in  a  few  days." 

Mr.  Flocken  was  directed  to  renicve  to  Tultcha, 
which  he  did  in  April,  i860.  Seeing  the  great  want  of 
schools,  on  the  15th  of  May  he  opened  a  school  in  his 
study,  which,  at  the  end  of  one  month,  numbered  fifty- 
two  children,  most  of  whom  attended  also  the  Sabbath- 
school.  Besides  teaching  these  children,  he  attended 
the  meetings  of  the  Molokans,  answered  their  inquiries, 
pointed  out  their  errors  in  doctrine  and  practice,  and 
thus  preached  to  tliem  the  Gospel.  Through  these 
Rtolokans  at  Tulcha  he  communicated  religious  in- 
struction to  the  Molokans  in  Russia  proper.  He  also 
regularly  held  meetings  for  tlie  Germans,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  introducing  many  of  our  German  tracts  and 
books  among  the  Germans  in  Russia.  These  publica- 
tions were  furnished  by  the  Mission  Book  Concern  in 
Germany.  vSomething  was,  also,  done  for  the  Bulgarians 
at  Tultcha,  by  visiting  them  and  distributing  tracts 
among  them.     On  the  loth  of  September  Mr.  Flocken 


',  ''I 


M 


'  ^ 


'i^m 


i.i 


Tultcha  and  the  Molokans.  219 

had  the  pleasure  of  baptizing  four  children  of  a  Rus- 
sian family  and  receiving  the  parents  on  probation.  He 
also  received  into  his  family  a  young  Bulgarian,  who, 
after  experiencing  religion,  went  to  America  at  his  own 
expense,  and  during  the  civil  war  entered  the  United 
States*  navy,  and  lost  his  life  before  Fort  Fisher.  He 
died  testifying  that  he  was  saved  by  grace  through  the 
mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Tultcha, 
and  divided  his  savings  between  his  parents  and  the 
Missionary  Society. 

4.  Native  Workers  and  Various  Struggles. 

The  work  of  the  mission  at  length  became  too  niucli 
for  our  missionaries,  and  each  of  them  began  to  pray 
and  petition  the  Board  for  an  assistant.  During  the 
year  1861  they  were  able  to  report  from  each  of  the 
three  stations  a  native  co-worker.  At  Tultcha  there 
was  Ivan  Ivanoff,  a  man  of  lovely  temper  and  disposi- 
tion, and  of  great  influence  among  his  Molokan  breth- 
ren ;  in  short,  just  such  a  man  as  was  needed  for  the 
particular  work  there.  At  Shumla,  Mr.  Melanovitsch, 
the  talented  and  enthusiastic  young  Bohemian  teacher, 
just  the  man  Mr.  Prettyman  needed;  and  at  Tirnova, 
Gabriel  Elieff,  who  had  been  under  the  supervision  of 
Mr.  Long  for  more  than  two  years,  and  had  grown  in 
grace  and  acquitted  himself  faithfully. 

The  year  1862  was  a  trying  one  on  account  of  political 
disturbances.  At  Tirnova  intense  excitement  prevailed, 
and  fears  were  entertained  of  a  re-enactment  of  the 
Syrian  tragedies.  For  several  nights  the  house  of  Mr. 
Long  was  filled  with  Bulgarian  friends — men,  women, 
and  children,  who  had  fled  there  for  refuge,  begging  the 
privilege  of  sleeping  under  his  roof. 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  the  mission  for  the  year 


220  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

ground  might  be  found  for  discouragement.  The  at- 
tendance upon  public  preaching  had  rather  diminished 
than  increased.  Some  were  considered  theoretically 
enlightened  in  regard  to  Gospel  truths  and  Christian 
duties,  but  scarcely  any  had  yet  practically  embraced 
them.  The  mass  of  the  Bulgarian  people,  disheartened 
by  defeat  in  their  ecclesiastical  struggle  with  the  more 
subtle  and  powerful  Greek  Church,  were  evidently  re- 
lapsing into  their  former  state  of  apathy,  not  only  upon 
religion,  but  even  upon  education. 

The  enemies  of  the  mission  did  not  fail  to  improve 
every  opportunity  to  slander  tlie  missionaries  before  the 
Government.  If  that  were  abortive,  and  the  mission- 
aries seemed  in  favor,  the  same  evil-disposed  persons 
seized  upon  this,  and  used  it  to  prejudice  Bulgarians 
against  them.  But  the  grand  and  principal  cause  oper- 
ating against  the  work  of  God  in  Bulgaria  was  neither 
political  nor  religious  —  not  their  oppression  by  the 
Turks,  nor  their  attachment  to  their  religion — but  the 
fact  that  from  their  infancy  the  people  had  been  trained 
to  disregard  the  truth.  Among  the  Bulgarians  there  is 
little  love  of  truth.  The  absence  of  a  printing-press 
left  the  mission  powerless  against  the  assaults  of  the 
Bulgarian  organ  of  the  Greek  patriarchate  and  Russian 
embassy,  and  the  Jesuit  organ,  which  was  very  ably 
edited.  These  journals  throughout  the  whole  year  were 
pouring  from  their  united  batteries  a  torrent  of  false- 
hood and  abuse  upon  our  mission,  while  it  had  nothing 
with  which  to  respond. 

A  new  feature  of  the  work  during  the  year  was,  the 
opening  of  some  very  interesting  intercourse  with  some 
of  the  Mussulman  population.  This  increased  in  inter- 
est as  the  missionaries  advanced  in  tlie  knowledge  and 
use  of  the  Turkish  language,  so  as  so  express  themselves 


Native  Workers  and  Various  Struggles.       221 

with  accuracy  on  subjects  requiring  exact  and  delicate 
explanation.  A  series  of  important  events  occurred  in 
the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  Bulgarians,  and  among  the 
missionaries.  A  national  council  of  Bulgarians,  com- 
posed of  lay  representatives  from  the  different  dioceses 
of  the  province,  after  spending  many  months  at  Con- 
stantinople in  negotiating  with  the  Sublime  Porte  for 
distinct  recognition  and  a  separate  hierarchy  from  the 
Greeks,  dissolved  without  obtaining  the  desired  object, 
It  became  manifest  that  the  old  state  of  things  must  yet 
prevail,  and  the  higher  ecclesiastical  offices  continue  to 
be  filled  by  Greeks,  who  would  use  every  effort  to  hold 
the  people  in  subjection. 

The  Papists,  defeated  in  their  last  attempt  to  unite 
the  Bulgarians  with  Rome,  had,  since  the  adjournment 
of  the  Constantinople  council,  taken  fresh  courage  and 
resorted  to  new  stratagems.  They  proposed  that  the 
Bulgarians  should  retain  the  dogmas  of  their  Church, 
with  all  their  own  forms  and  ceremonies,  only  acknowl- 
edging the  Pope  as  their  ecclesiastical  head,  and  con- 
tributing their  funds  to  him  instead  of  to  the  Patriarch 
at  Constantinople. 

Mr.  Prettyman  was  slowly  and  reluctantly  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that  but  little  could  be  hoped  for,  in 
the  w^ork  of  evangelizing  this  people,  without  separate 
Church  organization,  and  the  adoption  of  our  own  pe- 
culiar means  of  grace.  The  hope  of  reviving  the  ancient 
and  corrupt  Churcli  of  the  land,  he  was  confident,  must 
be  abandoned,  and  a  more  aggressive  policy  instituted. 
This,  how^ever,  would  require  a  greater  missionary  force, 
a  printing-press,  schools,  and  other  instrumentalities. 
The  strong  and  decided  moral  influence  which  the  mis- 
sion was  now  exerting  in  the  community  w^as  about  our 
only  sign  of  progress  thus  far.     Formerly,  he  who  de- 


222         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

rided  Protestantism  loudly  advanced  his  influence  and 
respectability  by  so  doing;  now,  the  contrast  was  such 
as  to  attract  general  attention,  and  it  was  very  credit- 
able to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  missionaries.  This 
was  something.  But  the  discouragement  of  Mr.  Pretty- 
man  was  complete,  and  he  was  permitted  to  return  to 
the  United  States. 

Constantinople  is  the  center  of  Turkish  influence,  and 
the  best  point  for  supervision,  and  as  there  was  always  a 
large  representation  of  the  most  intelligent  Bulgarian 
people  there,  the  Bishops  and  Board  deemed  it  best 
that  Mr.  Long  should  remove  from  Tirnova  to  Constan- 
tinople, and  be  charged  with  the  superintendency  of  the 
mission.  Accordingly,  in  June,  1863,  he  removed  to 
Constantinople,  and  commenced  preaching  in  his  dwell- 
ing. Here  he  became  associated  with  Dr.  Riggs  in  the 
revision  of  the  Bulgarian  New  Testament,  to  be  pub- 
lished by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and 
became  more  abundant  in  labors  than  ever.  The  next 
year,  1864,  he  commenced  the  publication  of  a  small 
paper,  called  ^''Zornitza  " — The  Day  Star — which  was 
received  with  great  favor  by  all  classes  of  Bulgarians. 
The  visible  successes  were  small,  but  it  was  hoped  that 
we  were  in  various  ways  laying  a  foundation  for  future 
triumphs. 

S.  Bishop  Thomson,  and  Brighter  Days. 
In  the  year  1865  the  mission  received  its  first  episco- 
pal visit,  and  Bishop  Thomson,  accompanied  by  Super- 
intendent Long,  gave  the  work  a  thorough  inspection. 
At  Tultcha  the  missionary  had  been  faithful,  but  the 
Molokans  had  diminished  in  numbers,  and  had  disap- 
pointed the  expectations,  at  first  entertained,  that  they 
would  embrace  the  truth.     Considerable    success   had 


Bishop  Thomson,  afid  Brighter  Days.         223 

attended  his  work  among  the  Germans,  and  the  schools 
he  had  opened  were  a  decided  success.  The  best 
school  of  the  city  was  that  of  our  mission,  to  which  the 
governor  was  sending  his  own  son.  In  i860  two  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  boys  and  forty  girls  had  received  in- 
struction there.  Thorough  success  in  the  school  was 
prevented  by  several  prevailing  customs.  Between  the 
ages  of  twelve  and  fourteen  the  children  are  generally 
appi enticed  to  some  tradesman,  and  taken  into  his  house 
and  workshop,  and  literally  made  his  slaves  for  three, 
four,  or  five  years.  The  children  of  the  Molokans  and 
other  Russian  dissenters  are,  also,  given  to  very  early 
marriages,  and  thereby  prevented  from  remaining  at 
school  long  enough  to  gain  an  education.  The  males 
are  rarely  unmarried  at  twenty  or  the  females  at  seven- 
teen. This  is  greatly  facilitated  by  the  patriarchal  mode 
in  which  this  people  live.  The  newly  married  couple 
do  not,  as  with  the  Germans,  found  at  once  their  own 
hearth,  but  remain  with  the  parents  of  one  or  the  other 
of  them  for  years.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  parents  with 
two,  three,  or  more  of  their  married  children  living  un- 
der one  roof,  eating  from  one  table,  keeping  the  house, 
and  forming  in  fact  one  family,  the  principal  charge 
always  devolving  upon  the  eldest.  Among  them  chil- 
dren, in  some  respects,  continue  to  be  children  during 
the  life-time  of  their  parents,  and,  consequently,  scarcely 
ever  venture  to  have  an  opinion  of  their  own,  or,  if  they 
do,  they  keep  it  to  themselves,  especially  if  it  be  in  any 
way  contrary  to  the  views  of  their  parents.  In  exactly 
the  same  relation  stands  the  Church  toward  its  leaders, 
and  hence  will  appear  what  patient  and  careful  perse- 
verance a  mission  to  them  requires. 

At  Sistof  Gabriel  Eliefif  had   interested  many  in  his 
teaching  and   experience.      Twelve   or  fifteen   persons 


224  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

regularly  assembled  at  his  house  to  hear  the  \vord  of 
God  read,  and  for  prayer  and  counsel.  At  Constanti- 
nople preaching  was  maintained  by  the  Superintendent, 
and  with  some  good  results;  but  his  greatest  and  most 
useful  labors  were  in  his  study,  giving  a  Christian  liteja- 
ture  to  Bulgaria.  The  publications  of  the  mission  dur 
ipg  the  year  were  : — 

Tracts Appeal  to  Sound  Reason,   8vo. . .  24,000  pages. 

"       Children's  Tract,  No.  I,  32mo.  . .  64,000  " 

"       Children's  Tract,  No.  2,  32mo . . .  64,000  " 

"       Dialogue  on  Religion,     i2mo. . .  72,000  " 

Bound  books.   Little  Henry  i6mo. . .  237,000  " 

"              Dairyman's  Daughter  .    l6mo. . .  396,000  " 

"               Pilgrim's  Progress  ...  .    i2mo...  120,000  " 

Total  . . . , 977,000 

The  good  effects  of  this  literature  were  already  be- 
ginning to  appear. 

Bishop  Thomson  believed  that  important  ground  had 
been  gained  in  the  mission,  that  the  people  had  been 
lifted  to  a  higher  plane,  and  that,  the  preparatory  work 
being  accomplished,  we  might  soon  hope  for  great  and 
glorious  results ;  so  he  reported,  and  advised  the  send- 
ing out  of  three  additional  missionaries,  one  for  Shumla, 
one  for  Tirnova,  and  one  for  either  Widdin  or  Rust- 
chuk.  He  also  recommended  the  establishment  of  a 
girls'  school. 

In  1866  Superintendent  Long,  by  invitation  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  came  to  New  York  to  super 
vise  the  stereotyping  of  a  parallel  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  in  the  ancient  Slavic  and  Bulgarian  lan- 
guages. He  returned  to  the  mission  in  1868,  and  re- 
sumed his  labors  as  Superintendent,  continuing  his  head- 
quarters at  Constantinople.  The  regular  services  every 
Sabbath,  which  he  resumed,  continued  to  be  attended 


Bishop  Thomson,  and  Brighter  Days.         225 

liy  a  small,  though  representative,  congregation.  His 
own  personal  intercourse  with  tlie  Bulgarians  oi  all 
classes  at  the  capital,  was  highly  agreeable  and  influen- 
tial. Many  who  did  not  venture  to  come  to  hear  him 
preach,  read  with  apparent  avidity  what  he  wrote.  He 
was  encouraged  by  seeing  from  time  to  time  evidences 
that  many  were  striving  in  a  quiet  way  to  put  into  prac- 
tice the  truths  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Rev.  E.  A.  Wanless  and  wife  went  out  during  the 
year  1868  to  reinforce  the  mission.  They  remained  for 
some  time  at  Constantinople  prosecuting  the  study  of 
the  language  preparatory  to  entering  upon  work  at 
Rustchuk.  The  General  Committee  had  provided  for 
the  retirement  of  the  missionary  from  Tultcha,  and  the 
mission  decided  that  Mr.  Flocken  should  remove  to 
Rustchuk,  with  Mr.  Wanless  for  an  associate.  This 
plan,  however,  was  frustrated  by  two  circumstances. 
The  first  was  the  protracted  illness  of  Mrs.  Wanless, 
which  rendered  their  removal  to  Rustchuk  impractica- 
ble for  the  space  of  eleven  months.  The  other  was  the 
outpouring  of  the  Lord's  Spirit  upon  Tultcha,  and  the 
commencement  of  a  deeply  interesting  work  among  the 
Russians  of  the  Lipovan  sect. 

6.  The  Lipovans  and  Others. 
When  the  time  arrived  at  which  Mr.  Flocken  was  to 
have  dei)arted  from  Tultcha  he  found  himself  surrounded 
by  such  a  flock  of  converted  men  and  women  rejoicing 
in  their  newly-found  Saviour,  and  by  others  tremblingly 
inq^uiring  the  way  of  life,  that  it  was  concluded  by  him, 
and  fully  concurred  in  by  the  superintendent,  that  it 
would  be  neither  wise  nor  right  to  leave  that  work  until 
provision  could  be  made  for  its  being  carried  on  in  the 
absence  of  the  missionary,  though  it  might  be  superin- 


226         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tended  from  Rustchuk.  This,  it  was  hoped,  could  be 
effected  during  the  year.  Uimitry  Petroff,  a  zealous 
and  faithful  brother,  one  of  the  Lipovans,  who  had  been 
appointed  class-leader,  was  given  license  to  exhort,  and 
commenced  a  course  of  special  study  with  Mr.  Flocken, 
that  by  the  next  spring  the  work  might  safely  be  intrusted 
to  him.  The  expected  visit  of  Bishop  Kingsley  in  the 
early  spring  was  another  reason  for  the  delay  of  Mr. 
Flocken's  removal  till  the  Bishop  could  be  consulted  in 
respect  to  it. 

The  Sistof  Brethren  were  called  at  this  time  to  endure 
very  severe  persecution.  The  governor  of  the  city, 
instigated  by  the  chief  priests  and  some  other  leading 
opponents  of  the  mission,  so  far  forgot  himself  as  to  lend 
himself  to  their  vile  purposes.  He  forcibly  closed  the 
shop  of  two  young  brethren  because  it  was  open  on  the 
Greek  festival  of  the  Virgin.  Then,  when  legally  ap- 
pealed to  by  the  parties,  he  drove  them  from  his  pres- 
ence with  vile  abusive  epithets,  and  prohibited  them, 
under  pain  of  imprisonment  and  exile,  from  saying  they 
were  Protestants.  The  civil  representative  of  the  native 
Protestants  presented  to  the  Sublime  Porte  a  complaint 
against  the  governor,  and,  in  due  time,  an  official  order 
was  obtained  reprimanding  this  official,  and  forbidding 
a  repetition  of  such  acts.  At  a  subsequent  interview  the 
governor  professed  himself  very  greatly  astonished,  and 
stated  that  until  that  day  he  did  not  know  that  there  were 
any  Protestants  in  Sistof,  and  that  the  chief  Greek  priesi 
had  assured  him,  in  the  case  of  the  two  young  men,  that 
they  only  professed  Protestantism  as  a  pretext  for  in- 
subordination to  the  orders  of  the  trade  corporation, 
which  forbade  the  opening  of  shops  on  fete  days.  The 
spirit  of  persecution  was  aggravated  by  the  Young  Bul- 
garian party  of  the  country  becoming  persuaded  that 


The  Lipovans  and  Others. 


J.SJ 


Proteatantism,  if  universally  accepted  by  the  people, 
would  destroy  Bulgarian  nationality. 

Des])ite  all  this,  the  work  at  Sistof  seemed  to  prosper. 
A  class  of  fourteen  members  was  organized.  One  of  th*. 
young  Bulgarians  whose  store  had  been  forcibly  closed, 
died  a  short  time  afterward,  and  left  a  glowing  testimony 
as  a  precious  heritage  to  the  persecuted  little  flock. 
Death,  indeed,  seemed  to  make  sad  havoc  among  oui 
societies.  Both  at  Sistof  and  Tultcha  the  little  bands 
no  sooner  began  to  gather  some  strength  than  the  pale 
monster  appeared  to  thin  out  their  ranks.  The  Super- 
intendent reported  as  follows  : — 

"Brother  Flocken,  in  his  work  in  Tultcha,  has  suf- 
fered especially  in  this  regard.  He  has  seen  man  after 
man  stricken  down  of  those  God  had  given  him  as  fruit 
of  his  labors.  The  two  families  from  the  Russian  Lipo- 
vans, of  whom  I  spoke  in  my  report  of  last  year,  have 
remained  steadfast,  continuing  to  show  forth  the  praises 
of  Him  who  has  called  them  out  of  darkness  into  his 
marvelous  light,  and  the  Lord  rewarded  them  by  not 
leaving  them  alone,  but  has  added  to  their  number,  so 
that  at  the  close  of  this  year  we  can  say,  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  his  well  beloved  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
that  we  have  to-day  at  this  place  a  small  but  regularly 
organized  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Russian';, 
which  we  believe  is  the  first  and  only  one  of  that  na- 
tion. I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Flocken, 
giving  an  account  of  the  death  and  burial  of  the  first 
member  of  that  Church.  He  was  the  old  man  whose 
relation  of  Christian  experience  affected  my  heart  so 
much  when  I  was  present  at  their  love-feast.  He  it  is 
who,  in  his  desire  to  practice  abstemiousness,  and  to 
keep  his  body  in  subjection,  wore  for  two  years  an  iron 
ij.nnd  next  to  the  skin.     For  years  he  had  been  suffering 


228  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

from  dropsy,  and  was  unable  to  work  much,  yet  from 
the  time  he  found  peace  he  gave  himself  to  the  work  of 
preparing  his  house  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord — for 
which  he  had  not  long  to  wait,  for  on  the  second  in- 
stant his  spirit  left  the  house  of  clay,  and  he  is  now,  we 
believe,  a  full  member  of  the  Church  triumphant  in 
heaven.  While  the  corpse  was  lying  in  the  house  many 
of  his  former  co-religionists  came  in  to  see  what  we  do 
with  our  dead.  All  appeared  to  be  surprised  at  the 
prevailing  order  and  quietness  which  was  manifested, 
showing  that  there  was  no  uncertain  hope  in  the  minds 
of  the  relatives,  but  a  sure  belief  of  his  safety  with 
Christ.  Many  of  the  leading  Lipovans  and  Molokans 
came  to  the  funeral.  All  accompanied  the  corpse  to 
the  grave,  and  many  joined  in  singing  our  Russian 
hymns,  which,  in  accordance  with  custom,  we  sang  on 
our  way  to  the  burying-ground.  The  Molokan  brethren 
very  kindly  gave  us  permission  to  inter  our  brother  in 
their  grave-yard.  I  cannot  express  to  you  the  feelings 
which  filled  my  soul  while  standing  on  that  elevated 
ground,  and  the  wind  was  carrying  down  upon  the 
tomb  the  hymn,  '  Unveil  thy  bosom,  faithful  tomb,' 
sung  in  the  Russian  language  to  the  tune  of  Old  Hun- 
dred." 

This  Russian  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  regu- 
larly organized.  It  had  two  classes,  each  with  a  leader, 
three  stewards,  and  the  "  leaders'  meeting  "  licensed  one 
exhorter.  The  Articles  of  Religion,  the  General  Rules, 
portions  of  the  Ritual,  Catechism  No.  2,  about  ninety 
hymns,  a  brief  Church  history,  and  some  other  books, 
were  translated  into  the  Russian  language,  and  issued 
during  this  year.  The  hope  was  vainly  cherished  that 
this  might  lead  to  important  consequences,  not  only  for 
Bulgaria,  but  for  the  vast  empire  adjoining.  , 


Persecution,  Discouragements,  Retirement.     229 

7    Persecution,  Discouragements,  Retirement. 

In  the  mean  time  Mr.  Waniess  proceeded  to  Rust- 
chuk.  Death  robbed  the  mission  of  the  anticipated 
visit  of  Bishop  Kingsley,  and,  after  an  interview  of  Su- 
perintendent Long  with  Bishop  Simpson  at  the  Germany 
and  Switzerland  Conference,  it  was  thought  best  that 
Mr.  Flocken  should  now  obey  the  behest  of  the  Board, 
and  remove  to  Rustchak.  Tliis  removal  took  place  in 
June,  1870.  The  work  at  Tultcha  was  intrusted  to 
Dimitry  Petroff,  a  Russian,  who  cared  well  for  the 
fli^ck.  There  were  this  year  in  Tultcha  seventeen 
members,  two  probationers,  and  a  Sunday-school  of 
thirty-five. 

The  work  was  no  sooner  opened  in  earnest  at  Rustchuk 
than  it  evoked  the  most  determined  hostility.  A  system- 
atic and  well-drawn  line  of  defense  against  any  possible 
inroads  it  might  make  was  adopted.  Young  men  who 
had  shown  an  interest  in  the  truth  and  a  seriousness  in 
regard  to  their  souls  were  called  up,  threatened,  and  ad- 
monished not  to  attend  the  Protestant  services.  These 
vigorous  measures  succeeded  in  keeping  most  of  them 
away,  and  the  effect  was  naturally  very  disheartening  to 
our  workers.  A  most  scurrilous  and  abusive  book,  very 
violent  in  its  language,  was  written  and  published  at 
Rustchuk  by  a  monk,  intended  to  fri.a;hten  uneducated 
people,  who  might  be  religiously  inclined,  from  having 
any  thing  to  do  with  the  mission.  For  the  more  en- 
lightened persons,  who  really  desired  their  Church  re- 
formed, another  line  of  tactics  was  employed.  They 
were  told  that  when  the  new  and  independent  Church 
organization  should  be  effected  all  these  reforms  would 
be  introduced,  and  the  Church  become  thoroughly  evan- 
gelical.    For  the  sake  of  preserving  their  influence  over 


230  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  people,  they  were  induced  to  have  no  direct  con- 
nection with  the  missionaries.  This  policy,  from  its 
plausibility,  did  more  harm  than  open  opposition  and 
persecution. 

Amid  these  alternate  hopes  and  disappointments  the 
work  had  now  proceeded  for  fourteen  years.  There 
was  almost  nothing  remaining  for  all  the  time,  toil,  and 
treasure  expended.  Our  missionaries,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Superintendent,  needed  to  return  to  the 
United  States.  The  General  Committee,  therefore, 
made  provision  for  it,  and  Messrs.  Flocken  and  Wanless 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  187 1,  and  entered  upon 
ministerial  work.  Dr.  Long  was  permitted  to  remain  at 
Constantinople,  where  he  had  been  called  to  a  pro- 
fessor's chair  in  Roberts  College,  and  was  requested  to 
give  the  mission  such  superintendency  as  was  compat- 
ible with  his  other  duties.  He  had  achieved  a  large 
reputation  for  scholarship,  and  had  done  a  most  im- 
portant work  as  an  educator,  and  in  giving  evangel- 
ical literature  to  the  Bulgarians.  His  influence  at  the 
Turkish  capital  over  many  leading  Bulgarians,  and  over 
young  men  getting  an  education  there,  had  been  most 
salutary.  The  Board  and  Bishop  gladly  consented  that 
he  should  remain  at  a  post  where  he  could  be  so  influ- 
ential for  good.  He  was  to  do  such  evangelistic  and 
educational  work  as  might,  to  his  judgment,  be  most 
conducive  to  the  revival  and  spread  of  scriptural  holi- 
ness in  Bulgaria.  Meantime,  if,  in  the  dispensation  of 
divine  providence,  such  changes  in  the  ecclesiastico- 
political  condition  of  the  country  should  transpire  as  to 
give  promise  of  successfully  prosecuting  our  mission  in 
Bulgaria,  such  steps  would  be  taken  to  resume  the  work 
as  in  the  judgment  of  the  Bishops  might  be  deemed 
advisable;  otherwise  the  mission  would  be  finally  dis- 


Persecution,  Discourageinents,  Retirement.     231 

continued.  Dr.  Long  still  maintained  preaching  to  the 
Bulgarians  at  Constantinople,  and  early  in  the  year  1872 
made  a  tour  of  the  mission. 

At  Tultcha  he  found  Dimitry  Petroff  proving  a  good 
witness  for  Jesus  Christ.  Two  members  of  the  little 
Russian  Church  had  withdrawn,  and  two  had  been  sub- 
jected to  discipline.  Dr.  Long  at  this  visit  baptized 
five  children.  He  believed  the  Russian  work  might 
have  most  important  relations  to  future  movements  upon 
the  empire  of  Russia  itself.  At  Sistoff  the  society  had 
won  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  community;  but 
there  was  no  growth,  and  spiritual  torpor  and  death  pre- 
vailed on  every  side.  Gabriel  Elief  not  only  filled  his 
own  appointment,  but  itinerated  extensively.  Every- 
where the  work  was  pretty  well  sustained.  Mrs.  Clara 
Proca,  who  had  been  a  teacher  in  our  mission,  had  en- 
tered upon  volunteer  work  as  a  Bible  reader,  and  was 
received  with  much  attention.  In  their  loneliness  the 
native  brethren,  especially  Gabriel  Elief  and  Dimitry 
Petroff,  wrote  to  America,  anxious  to  learn  what  was  to 
be  done  with  the  mission.  They  represented  them- 
selves as  our  spiritual  children,  distressingly  in  need 
of  being  nurtured  by  us.  They  could  scarcely  think 
their  own  spiritual  mother  was  prepared  to  abandon 
them,  and  they  pleaded  earnestly,  almost  with  tears,  that 
the  Board  and  the  Bishops  would  give  them  the  attention 
their  condition  called  for.  This  matter  came  before  the 
General  Committee  at  its  meeting  in  November,  1872 
and  amid  the  general  disposition  manifested  to  make 
forward  movements,  it  was  decided  to  re-enter  Bulgaria 
with  a  determination  to  send  a  full  force  of  workers,  and 
prosecute  the  mission  vigorously.  It  was  universally 
conceded  that  if  it  were  fully  manned  no  field  under 
our  charge  would  yield  richer  returns. 


232  Mkthodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

8.  Return — Re-enforced. 

Rev.  F.  W.  Flocken  was  directed  to  prepare  for  an 
immediate  return  to  Bulgaria.  Rev.  Henry  A.  Buchtel 
was  also  appointed  to  the  field,  and  in  March  of  1873, 
with  their  families,  they  repaired  to  Bulgaria,  and  en 
tered  with  hope  and  joy  upon  their  work.  Dr.  Long 
expressed  the  conviction  that  his  duties  at  the  college 
would  render  it  impossible  for  him  adequately  to  super- 
intend the  mission,  and  Mr.  Flocken  was  accordingly 
appointed  superintendent.  Mr.  Buchtel  at  once  began 
the  study  of  the  language,  and,  as  the  earnest  of  more 
extensive  success  as  a  missionary,  God  made  him  the 
instrument  of  salvation  to  his  teacher.  The  superin- 
tendent first  gave  the  field  a  thorough  inspection,  and 
then  proceeded  to  re-organization,  with  a  view  to  the 
broad  plans  contemplated  by  the  administration  at  the 
Mission  Rooms. 

The  mission  seemed  re-opened  at  a  propitious  hour. 
The  struggle  of  years  was  over,  and  the  Bulgarian  Ex- 
arch was  at  the  head  of  the  national  Church.  Separa- 
tion from  the  Greek  Church  was  complete.  Fifteen 
Bulgarian  Bishops  were  occupying  the  former  Greek 
dioceses,  and  five  hundred  Bulgarian  ]5riests  were  con- 
ducting the  services  of  the  Church  of  the  land.  The 
hoped-for  and  promised  spirituality,  however,  did  not 
come  with  a  change  of  hierarchy.  It  proved  but  a 
change  of  language  and  persons.  Dissatisfaction  was 
widespread  and  deeper  than  ever.  He  from  whom  most 
was  to  be  hoped  forbade  the  public  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  the  Bulgarian  tongue  within  his  diocese,  and  ordered 
it  to  be  read  in  the  Slavic  tongue.  Several  other  Bishops 
followed  this  pernicious  example.  The  people  justly 
thought  that  their  latter  state  was  worse  than  their  for- 


Return — Re-enforced.  233 

mer;  for  while  the  Bible  was  read  in  the  (ireek  lan- 
guage, at  least  all  the  elder  people  and  many  of  the 
younger  understood  it,  but  the  present  reading  in  the 
old  Slavic  language  could  be  understood  but  by  very 
few.  Consequently  several  communities  opposed  the 
episcopal  order,  and  demanded  of  the  priests  the  read 
ing  of  the  Bible  in  the  Bulgarian  tongue. 

Another  cause  for  dissatisfaction  was,  the  great  haste 
with  which  the  Bishops  had  been  ordained  and  installed 
by  the  Exarch.  The  people  protested  against  this,  claim- 
ing that  more  attention  should  have  been  paid  to  the 
qualifications  of  the  men,  and  that  fewer  Bishops  should 
have  been  consecrated  until  persons  with  undoubted 
qualifications  could  have  been  obtained.  All  was  in 
vain,  and  disgust  became  universal  and  complete.  Hope 
of  the  promised  spiritual  awakening  was  extinguished. 
It  seemed  as  if  we  ought  to  be  hailed  at  such  a  crisis, 
as  the  bringers  of  light  and  salvation  to  Bulgaria.  For- 
eign relief,  however,  was  not  that  which  was  desired, 
and  our  movements  were  regarded  with  apathy  by  most, 
and  with  hostility  by  some,  which  occasionally  broke 
out  into  violent  persecution. 

Calamities  now  succeeded  each  other  in  rapid  suc- 
cession. The  financial  distresses  of  the  United  S.tates, 
curtailing  the  means  of  the  Missionary  Society,  made  it 
impossible  to  re-enforce  the  mission,  as  had  been  an- 
ticipated. Mrs.  Buchtel's  health  failed,  and  necessitat 
ed  her  return  to  the  United  States;  and  her  husband, 
on  whom  very  high  hopes  had  rested,  left  the  mission 
with  her  in  September,  1874.  Epidemic  cholera  broke 
out  in  Shumla,  and  raged  there  fiercely,  and  in  all  the 
villages  round  about,  greatly  interfering  with  mission 
work.  Mr.  Flocken  was  now  left  alone,  and  was  greatly 
disappointed,  if  not  discouraged.    He  proceeded  to  make 


234  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

the  best  disposition  possible  of  the  forces  at  his  com- 
mand. He  called  from  the  theological  class  which  he 
had  been  instructing  one  young  man  to  his  help,  Stephen 
GetchofF,  who  was  stationed  at  Orchania,  and  entered 
upon  his  work  in  July.  In  October  Gabriel  Elieff  was 
Sent  to  Plevna.  These  were  two  new  appointments, 
wliile  all  the  old  posts  were  also  maintained.  The  na- 
tive colporteurs  went  forth  with  Bibles  furnished  by  the 
American  Bible  Society  and  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  and  did  effective  work  for  the  truth. 
They  disposed  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  Bibles 
or  parts  of  Bibles,  and  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  religious  books,  and  three  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  three  tracts  and  pamphlets.  Every-where 
they  spake  words  of  instruction  or  comfort.  Clara  Proca, 
now  sustained  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, gave  all  her  time  and  energies  to  evangelistic 
work.  Under  these  arrangements  the  mission  might  be 
said  to  be  prospering,  at  least  to  the  usual  degree. 

9.  Episcopal  Visits  to  Bulgaria. 

Nowhere  in  all  his  round-the-world  visitation  was 
Bishop  Harris  more  welcome  than  at  this  depleted,  dis- 
couraged Bulgarian  mission.  He  came  in  May,  1874,  and 
gave  the  affairs  of  the  mission  his  careful  attention.  He 
recommended  that  the  mission  be  re-enforced  imme- 
diately, as  it  was  assuming  some  remarkably  hopeful 
appearances.  An  interesting  class  of  natives  was  being 
instructed  for  the  ministry  by  Mr.  Flocken,  and  some 
gifted  young  men  had  gone  to  the  United  States  to 
more  fully  qualify  themselves  for  the  sacred  calling.  A 
talented  native  ministry  seemed  to  be  in  preparation  for 
the  work  to  be  done.  It  did  not  appear  to  the  Bishop 
to  be  true  policy  now  to  forsake  the  field  so  soon  after 


Episcopal  Visits  to  Bitli^a/ia.  235 

re-entering  it,  and  willioul  an  adciiuatc  effort  for  siu  - 
cess.  In  harmony  with  his  advice  two  additional 
missionaries  were  accordingly  appointed:  Rev.  E.  F. 
Lounsbury,  of  the  New  York  East  Conference,  who  ar- 
rived in  Bulgaria  in  June,  1875,  and  with  a  young  Bul- 
garian helper  was  assigned  to  Sistof,  and  Rev.  De  Witt 
C.  Challis,  who,  with  his  wife,  arrived  in  the  following 
December,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Rustchuk  for 
the  winter,  faithfully  and  very  successfully  devoting 
himself  to  the  acquisition  of  the  language.  Mrs.  Challis 
was  a  doctor  of  medicine,  and  soon  found  a  wide  door 
of  usefulness  opened  to  her  through  her  profession. 
She  was  richly  endowed  for  the  work  into  which  she 
had  been  led  by  the  providence  of  God. 

The  whole  country  was  more  or  less  disturbed.  Bul- 
garia, south  of  the  Balkans,  became  the  scene  of  atrocities 
that  shocked  the  world;  but  these  occurred  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  the  center  of  our  field,  which  had 
thus  far  been  remarkably  exempt  from  the  actual 
presence  of  war.  Under  the  guise  of  protecting  Greek 
Christians  from  the  oppression  of  Moslem  Turkey,  Russia 
opened  war  upon  Turkey.  An  episcopal  visit  from  Bishop 
Andrews  was  expected  early  in  1876,  but  it  was  not 
known  in  the  mission  that  he  could  find  access  to  the 
field.  In  view  of  the  increased  force  in  the  mission  it 
was  thought  best  at  once  to  convene  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing, provided  for  in  the  new  Discipline,  and  arrange  the 
work.  Messrs.  Flocken,  Long,  Challis,  and  Lounsbury 
accordingly  met  in  Rustchuk  on  April  22,  1876.  Ga- 
briel EliefT,  Naiden  L  Voinoff,  Stephen  GetchoflT,  Yor- 
daky  ZwetkofF,  Todor  A.  Nicolofif,  Dimitry  Mateef,  Tena 
Natchoff,  and  Yordan  Djumalief,  all  native  helpers,  met 
with  them.  After  consulting  together,  and  with  much 
prayer,  the  work  was  arranged  as  follows  : — 


236  Methooist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Rustchuk,  F.  W,  Flocken,  superintendent ;  Gabriel 
Elieff,  assistant,  local  preacher.  Sistof,  D.  W.  C.  Chal- 
lis,  missionary;  D.  Mateef,  helper,  exhorter.  Tirnova, 
E.  F.  Lounsbury,  missionary;  Y.  Djumalief,  assistant, 
local  preacher.  Lovetch  Circuit,  N.  I.  Voinoff,  assist- 
ant, local  preacher;  Orchania  Circuit,  S.  Getchoff,  as- 
sistant, local  preacher;  Lom  Palanka  Circuit,  T.  Nat- 
choff,  assistant,  local  preacher;  Plevna  Circuit,  Y.  Zwet- 
koff,  helper,  exhorter;  Widdin  Circuit,  T.  A.  Nicoloff, 
helper,  exhorter;  Tultcha  Circuit,  to  be  supplied. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  Bishop  Andrews  was  able 
to  reach  the  mission,  and  he  met  the  missionaries  at  Rust- 
chuk on  the  second  of  October,  At  this  meeting  of 
the  mission  the  native  brethren  Voinoff,  Natchoff,  and 
Getchoff  were  recommended  for  admission  on  trial  in- 
to an  Annual  Conference,  and  Gabriel  Elieff,  who  claims 
to  be  the  first  Protestant  of  Bulgaria,  and  who  has  been 
eminent  for  labors  and  sufferings,  and  for  devoted  at- 
tachment to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  having 
been  received  on  trial  in  Conference,  was  ordained  both 
deacon  and  elder.  Ivan  IvanofiF,  a  Russian,  formerly  of 
the  Molokan  faith,  for  many  years  assistant  in  the  school 
at  Tultcha,  was  licensed  to  preach.  The  brethren  sep- 
arated, greatly  strengthened  by  the  presence,  counsels, 
and  ministrations  of  the  Bishop,  and  went  out  to  toil 
amid  the  tumult  and  ruin  of  war,  not  knowing  whal 
might  befall  them  ere  they  should  meet  again.  These 
two  meetings  of  the  mission  together  may  be  considered 
the  first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Bulgarian  Mission. 

10.  During  the  War 
It  will  at  once  be  conceived  that  the  civil  condition 
of  Bulgaria  greatly  increased  the  difficulties  of  the  mis- 
sion.    The  people  were  so  preoccupied  and  agitated  a? 


During  the  War.  237 

to  leave  them  no  disposition  to  attend  to  matters  of 
religion.  Great  changes  were  either  hoped  for  or  feared. 
The  people,  divided  by  race  and  by  creed,  distrusted, 
feared,  and  hated  one  another.  The  Mohammedans, 
naturally  violent  and  cruel,  were  now  more  so  than 
usual,  because  the  loss  of  their  long-possessed  power 
was  impending.  The  native  Christians  smarted  under 
their  wrongs,  and  yet  were  intimidated  by  the  recollec- 
tion of  their  former  experiences  whenever  those  wrongs 
had  been  resisted.  Many  of  our  preachers  found  the 
people  unwilling  to  attend  a  service  which  might  possi- 
bly be  interrupted  by  the  police. 

The  influence  of  the  dreadful  events  which  had  oc- 
curred south  of  the  Balkans  extended,  like  a  deep,  dark 
shadow,  far  and  wide.  A  state  of  apprehension  existed 
in  all  classes  of  society,  and  each  watched  the  other 
with  jealous  eye.  Many  violent  deeds  were  done.  It 
was  not  safe  to  travel  away  from  the  great  highways, 
nor  to  congregate  under  circumstances  capable  of  mis- 
construction. Our  preachers,  therefore,  restricted  their 
movements,  and  had  to  content  themselves  with  very 
small  congregations.  Their  work  was  done  chiefly  by 
private  conversations,  and  was  necessarily  very  limited 
in  extent  and  importance.  Bishop  Andrews  evidently 
saw  great  possibilities  in  the  field,  and  reported  at 
length  to  the  Board,  with  many  valuable  suggestions. 
He  closed  the  report  as  follows : — 

"As  soon  as  it  is  practicable,  the  mission  ought  to  be 
re-enforced  from  America,  in  accordance  with  the  orig- 
inal design,  as  I  understand  it,  with  which  the  mission 
was  resumed.  If  for  no  other  reason,  this  should  be 
done  so  as  to  provide  for  the  contingency  of  the  death, 
removal  to  America,  or  proven  inefficiency  of  the  breth- 
ren who  are  now  here.     Even  should  the  brethren  who 


238  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

are  now  here  remain  and  continue  efficient,  they  are  not 
enough,  scattered  as  they  must  be,  to  give  the  proper 
form  and  guidance  to  the  work,  and  the  workmen  who 
may  be  raised  up.  Unless  tlie  number  of  American 
laborers  in  this  field  can  be  soon  increased,  I  shall 
doubt  whether  it  was  expedient  to  have  revived  the 
mission." 

The  year  1877  opened  with  the  dark  clouds  of  war 
resting  upon  the  land,  and  involving  the  possibility  of 
another  break  up  in  the  mission,  but  this  did  not  dis- 
turb tlie  faith  of  the  missionaries.  At  Sistof  Mr.  Challis 
began  to  see  signs  of  encouragement  at  the  very  open- 
ing of  the  year.  The  members,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, attended  the  class  and  prayer-meetings.  Two 
persons  had  been  received  into  full  connection,  and  six 
on  probation ;  five  men  had  been  received  on  probation 
in  one  of  the  villages  within  the  circuit.  The  Sabbath- 
school  was  growing  in  size  and  interest.  Mr.  Challis 
had  prepared  Sunday-school  lessons,  and  they  had  for 
five  months  been  in  use  in  tlie  school. 

Mr.  Lounsbury  also  opened  his  work  at  Tirnova  with 
some  promise,  but  the  congregations  were  soon  dimin- 
ished by  threats  and  actual  prohibitions.  He  had  a 
good  native  assistant,  and  some  tracts  were  translated 
and  put  into  use.  VoinofiT,  w\t\\  the  aid  of  the  Bible 
reader  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
organized  a  Sabbath-school  at  Lovetch,  and  received 
one  person  on  probation  and  one  into  full  connection. 
Troyan  and  Sevlivo  were  taken  into  his  circuit,  making 
a  substantial  extension  of  the  work.  Gabriel  Elieff  spent 
much  of  his  time  during  the  year  away  from  Rustchuk, 
in  the  districts  where  the  massacres  had  occurred.  One 
thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-one  families,  contain- 


During  the  War.  239 

ing  nine  thousand  seven  liundred  and  fifty  persons,  were 
relieved  from  destitution  through  him.  The  native  help- 
ers generally  did  what  they  could  in  the  disturbed  state 
of  the  country. 

J.  J.  Economoff,  having  finished  his  studies  at  Drew 
Seminary,  was  this  year  sent  out  by  the  Board,  and  the 
superintendent  assigned  him  the  duty  of  instructing  the 
class  of  young  men  preparing  for  the  ministry.  In  the 
meantime  the  Russian  army  was  steadily  approaching 
the  Danube,  and  was  now  threatening  several  cities  in 
which  our  missions  were  established.  Danger  became 
so  imminent  that  the  consuls  of  the  various  nations 
thought  best  to  send  their  families  away  to  places  of 
greater  safety.  Mrs.  Flocken  had  been  suffering  in 
Tiealth  for  months,  and  Mrs.  Challis  had  in  her  arms  a 
new-born  babe,  and  it  was  deemed  advisable  that  they 
should  not  remain,  exposed  as  were  their  homes  to  the 
bomb-shells  of  the  Russians.  Mr.  Flocken  proposed  to 
take  them  into  Germany,  and  then  return  himself  to  the 
mission.  Just  as  he  was  about  to  effect  this  purpose 
Mr.  Challis  was  seized  with  small-pox,  and  his  faithful 
wife  refused  to  be  separated  from  him.  The  disease 
appeared,  also,  in  the  babe,  and  removal  became  impos- 
sible. Mr.  Flocken  started  with  his  wife,  but  on  reach- 
ing Pesth  she  was  unable  to  proceed  farther.  Mr. 
Flocken  found  a  home  for  her  in  a  Christian  hospital, 
where  she  was  delivered  the  next  day  of  a  daughter. 
As  soon  as  possible  Mr.  Flocken  set  out  on  his  return 
to  the  mission.  He  encountered  many  dangers,  but  at 
last  succeeded  in  re-entering  Rustchuk.  Here  the  sad 
intelligence  at  once  met  him  that  the  gifted  and  excel- 
lent wife  of  Mr.  Challis  had,  since  his  departure,  died  of 
small-pox.  Moreover,  the  Russians  were  fast  moving 
upon  Sistof,  and  the  superintendent  advised  Mr.  Challis 


240  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

10  take  his  babe  to  the  United  States,  since  no  safe  01 
adequate  provision  for  it  could  be  made  in  Bulgaria. 
Mr.  Challis  accordingly  took  his  departure,  accompanied 
by  a  little  native  nurse,  and  arrived,  sadly  bereaved,  at 
New  York  in  June,  1877.  By  the  advice  of  the  Secre- 
taries and  the  Bishop  he  entered  upon  work  in  his  Con 
ference,  awaiting  the  settlement  of  affairs  in  Turkey 

Mr.  Flocken  now  received  intelligence  that  his  wife 
and  babe  would  not,  probably,  survive  long.  Summon- 
ing Mr.  Lounsbury  to  Rustchuk,  and  caring  as  well  as 
he  could  for  the  affairs  of  the  mission  in  view  of  the 
expected  bombardment  of  the  city,  he  departed  for 
Pesth.  His  babe  died,  but  his  wife  was  mercifully  pre- 
served to  him. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  Russians  had  crossed 
the  Danube,  and  the  missionaries  had  to  flee.  The 
mission  was  now  divided  between  the  contending  ar- 
mies, and  one  part  was  inaccessible  from  the  other. 
The  whole  work  could  be  better  supervised  from  with- 
out than  from  either  section  of  it.  Indeed,  little  could 
be  done  in  any  way.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
Board  advised  the  return  of  Messrs.  Flocken  and  Louns- 
bury to  the  United  States  to  await  the  further  indica- 
tions of  Providence.  They  accordingly  returned.  Mr. 
Flocken  arrived  February  i,  1878.  Mr.  Lounsbury  had 
preceded  him  a  few  weeks.  Mr.  Lounsbury  entered  at 
(jnce  upon  work  in  his  Conference,  and  Mr.  Flocken 
remained  at  the  command  of  the  Board. 

Dr.  Long  alone  remained,  of  all  the  force  which  had 
been  sent  to  Bulgaria,  and  his  knowledge,  counsels,  and 
help  were  invoked  in  tliis  extremity  as  they  were  needed. 
The  native  brethren  continued  their  work  as  well  as  cir- 
cumstances allowed,  and  occasionally  reported  to  their 
superintendent  at  New  York,  but  results  could  not  now 


Duriyig  the  War.  241 

be  expected.  We  were,  in  fact,  waiting,  and  only  wait- 
ing, till  the  way  to  work  should  be  opened  to  us. 

In  the  spring  of  1878  hostilities  ceased,  though  the 
affairs  of  Bulgaria  had  by  no  means  become  settled. 
The  prospect  of  peace  and  the  autonomy  of  Bulgaria^ 
and  the  importance  of  our  being  present  in  Bulgaria  to 
reap  any  advantages  that  might  possibly  be  derived  from 
such  presence  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  country,  and 
still  more,  the  need  of  full  information  at  the  approaching 
session  of  the  General  Committee  in  order  to  decide  what 
should  be  done  with  the  mission,  led  the  Bishop,  with 
the  advice  of  the  Board,  to  direct  Mr.  Flocken  to  return 
to  Bulgaria,  leaving  his  family  in  the  city  of  New  York 
till  the  proper  course  to  be  pursued  could  be  deter- 
mined, when  they  might  come  to  him  if  he  remained  in 
Bulgaria.  He  sailed  from  New  York  in  the  steamer 
"Republic"  on  the  2d  of  May,  1878,  and  in  due  time 
arrived  in  Rustchuk.  After  a  few  months  he  reported 
fully  to  the  Board,  and  the  mission  in  Bulgaria  received 
careful  consideration  from  the  General  Committee,  which 
met  in  November,  1878.  It  was  decided  to  renew  the 
limited  appropriation  to  Bulgaria,  with  a  view  of  sus- 
taining for  the  year  two  foreign  missionaries  in  the  field, 
with  all  the  native  brethren  now  under  appointment. 

The  Bishops  decided  to  relieve  Mr.  Flocken,  and 
allow  him  to  return  to  his  family.  And  they  directed 
the  immediate  return  of  Mr.  Challis  and  of  Rev.  S. 
Thomoff,  who,  since  his  graduation  at  Drew  Theolog- 
ical Seminary,  had  been  the  acting  pastor  at  Gilber- 
ton,  Pennsylvania.  They  took  steamer  from  New  York 
on  the  24th  of  December,  1878.  The  force  for  the  year 
would  be  completed  when  Mr.  Lounsbury  should  reach 
the  field,  and  preparations  for  his  return  thither  were 
now  in  progress. 


242  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

1  1 .  After  the  War. 

When  Mr.  Challis  returned  to  Bulgaria  in  the  winter 
of  1878-79  he  found  a  wonderful  change  had  been 
wrought  by  those  months  of  conflict  in  1877.  The 
Turk  had  ceased  to  be  a  ruler  in  Bulgaria.  The  tas- 
seled  fez  which  all  must  wear  but  a  year  before,  had 
given  place  to  the  more  modern-looking,  if  less  pictur- 
esque, Calpac  of  the  Bulgarians.  Legalized  brigandage 
was  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  five  centuries  of  Turkish 
oppression  had  been  brought  to  an  end.  The  aspira- 
tions of  the  Bulgarians  were  realized.  Their  patriots 
who  had  pined  in  banishment  or  died  on  the  scaffold 
were  avetiged. 

It  was  midwinter  when  a  Russian  steam  launch  con- 
veyed Mr.  Challis  through  the  floating  ice  of  the  Dan- 
ube. A  chilling  fog  pervaded  the  atmosphere.  But  a 
light  above  that  of  the  sun  seemed  to  have  penetrated  tlie 
clouds  of  darkness  that  so  long  had  enveloped  the  Balkan 
peninsula.  Only  those  who  had  witnessed  its  blighting 
effects  could  fully  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the 
revolution  that  had  released  this  faijest  province  of 
Eastern  Europe  from  the  anachronism  of  Turkish  rule. 

There  was  much  dissatisfaction  on  the  part  of  the 
Bulgarians  witli  the  action  of  the  Berlin  Conference  in 
separating  the  people  on  two  sides  of  the  Balkans  which 
were  one  in  race  and  aspirations,  and  had  been  rendered 
doubly  so  by  the  fierce  conflict  among  the  clouds  at 
Shipka  Pass,  where  Bulgarian  soldiers,  permitted  to  meet 
in  equal  combat  with  the  Turks,  had  fully  demonstrated 
the  validity  of  their  claim  to  national  existence. 

The  northern  province  had  been  fully  recognized  as 
the  Principality  of  Bulgaria,  and  upon  their  new-fledged 


After  the  War.  243 

statesmen  devolved  the  mighty  responsibility  of  forming 
a  constitution.  Prince  Dondookoff  Karsakoff,  the  Rus- 
sian Provisional  Governor,  had  prepared  a  draft  of  a 
constitution  for  the  guidance  of  the  convention  which, 
though  in  the  main  liberal,  was  behind  the  age  in  some 
of  its  features.  The  convention  met  in  the  early  spring 
in  the  ancient  capital  Tirnova,  and  proceeded  to  form  a 
constitution  which  recognized  the  largest  measure  of 
personal  liberty  consistent  with  the  stability  of  the  gov- 
ernment. In  the  draft  submitted  to  the  convention  a 
certain  amount  of  religious  freedom  was  granted,  but  a 
clause  was  inserted  forbidding  "  proselytism."  This  was 
stricken  out,  but  not  without  a  warm  debate  in  which 
the  clerical  members — the  bishops — earnestly  contended 
for  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  they  even  threat- 
ened to  withdraw  from  the  body  unless  the  clause  in 
dispute  were  retained.  Some  small  concessions,  how- 
ever, induced  them  to  retain  their  seats,  and  the  consti- 
tution was  finally  adopted  granting  the  fullest  degree  of 
religious  liberty. 

Naturally  the  mission,  always  feebly  manned  and  never 
having  owned  a  foot  of  real  estate,  was  sadly  demoral- 
ized by  the  war.  A  few  members  remained  in  Rust- 
chuk,  Sistof,  and  Orchania.  In  Loftcha  they  had 
nearly  all  been  slaughtered  by  the  Turks.  Services 
were  re-opened  in  Sistof,  Orchania,  and  Loftcha,  but  all 
in  straitened  quarters  and  obscure  neighborhoods,  the 
best  that  could  be  done  with  the  means  at  the  disposal 
of  the  missionaries.  Tirnova,  Gabrova,  and  Selvi  were 
occupied  tentatively  and  two  colporteurs  were  put  into 
the  field.  Congregations  were  small,  but  considerable 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  evident  intention  of  the 
mission  to  assume  a  more  aggressive  attitude.     At  Ga- 


244  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

brova  persecution  was  violent,  but  everywhere  sensible 
people  recognized  the  right  of  the  mission  to  exist  and 
labor  for  the  conversion  of  the  masses. 

Two  missionaries,  Challis  and  Lounsbury,  four  Bul- 
garian preachers,  two  colporteurs,  and  one  helper  were 
called  together  for  the  Annual  Meeting,  which  convened 
September,  1879,  and  in  the  absence  of  a  Bishop  was 
presided  over  by  Su]:)erintendent  Challis.  The  Sunday 
services  of  this  session  were  remarkable  for  spiritual 
fervor  and  enthusiasm.  The  colporteur  had  been  very 
successful  in  selling  books  and  Scriptures,  and  all  were 
hopeful  of  larger  results  in  the  near  future.  But  the 
twenty  years  of  previous  history,  while  fruitful  in  their 
influence  on  the  common  mind  of  Bulgaria,  had  been 
largely  dissipated  by  not  acquiring  real  estate,  and  also 
by  working  without  adequate  force  or  continuity  of 
effort.  This  indifference  had  been  communicated  to 
the  whole  work,  and  proved  more  difficult  to  overcome 
than  was  then  supposed. 

The  missionaries  gathered  again  under  the  call  of 
Bishop  Merrill  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  September  20, 
1880,  with  good  hope  and  full  of  enthusiasm.  Two  mis- 
sionaries had  been  added  to  the  force.  Bishop  Merrill 
entered  heartily  into  the  plans  of  the  mission,  and  they 
were  cheered  by  the  presence  of  several  other  visiting 
friends.  With  a  larger  staff  than  ever  before,  the  mis- 
sion seemed  to  have  entered  upon  a  hopeful  era.  Con- 
gregations had  increased  ;  new  members  were  being 
added ;  schools  were  about  to  be  established,  and  per- 
manence seemed  assured,  notwithstanding  the  threats 
that  were  already  reaching  the  mission  from  the  "  Holy 
Synod  "  at  St.  Petersburg. 

The  o])positi()n  at    Selvi  was    intense,  even  extending 


After  the  War.  245 

to  intimidation  of  probationers  from  attendance  on  Sab- 
bath worship.  Yet  Mr.  Gabriel  kept  the  people  aware 
of  his  presence  by  visitation  from  house  to  house.  At 
Gabrova  fierce  persecution  was  followed  by  the  coldest 
indifference.  It  was  situated  in  the  Balkan  region, 
among  a  rural  population,  yet  was  the  educational  cen- 
ter of  Bulgaria.  The  school  was  large  and  prosperous, 
but  only  preachers  tinged  with  infidelity  could  be  se- 
cured. There  was  no  preacher  available  for  the  place, 
the  demands  of  other  localities  preponderated,  and  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  withdraw  from  the  place  to  concen- 
trate effort  more  on  other  places.  The  fiercest  opposi- 
tion raged  at  Orchania.  Mr.  Demeter  Ivanoff  was  hooted 
through  the  streets  and  sent  out  of  town  under  arrest, 
yet  he  had  induced  persons  to  buy  Scriptures  in  villages 
where  friends  feared  for  the  safety  of  his  life,  and  some- 
times he  had  rooms  crowded  by  quiet  hearers  with  num- 
bers standing  outside  to  listen.  But  there  was  no  Bul- 
garian pastor  to  husband  this  work.  The  book-selling 
colporteurs  were  only  temporarily  at  one  place.  They 
sold,  however,  this  year  1,037  copies  of  Scriptures  and 
portions,  3,295  Other  volumes,  5,894  tracts  ;  a  total  of 
10,226,  an  advance  in  sales  over  the  year  preceding  of 
3,978.  But  there  was  not  a  distinctly  Methodist  publi- 
cation among  them,  for  the  reason  that  the  mission  had 
not  a  printing  press,  for  which  it  had  repeatedly  appealed. 
Sistof,  the  central  station  of  the  mission,  was  without 
property  for  the  Girls'  Boarding  School  and  without  a 
suitable  Bulgarian  teacher.  A  property  could  have  been 
purchased  for  $1,400,  but  the  appropriation  was  re- 
stricted to  ^1,200.  The  way  being  hedged  up  for  the 
boarding  school  in  Sistof,  attention  was  turned  to  Troi- 
an,  and  after  careful  investigation  the  Annual  Meeting 


246  Methodist   Episcopal  Missions. 

directed  that  the  Superintendent  remove  his  residence 
to  that  i)lace  and  attempt  the  estabUshment  of  a  board- 
ing school  under  his  own  supervision.  Land  was 
cheaper  there,  and  buildings  could  be  secured  at  little 
more  than  half  the  cost  of  similar  pro]>erty  in  Sistof. 
Troian  was  as  accessible  froni  the  interior  towns,  was 
surrounded  by  a  dense  rural  population,  physically  and 
morally  superior  to  that  of  the  cities,  and  was  located 
in  the  midst  of  the  Balkans  in  a  beautiful  valley,  with 
a  salubrious  atmosphere  and  pure  water,  while  wood  and 
provisions  could  be  had  at  half  the  price  at  which  they 
were  procurable  in  the  Danube  cities.  The  need  was  of  a 
suitable  building.  In  October,  1880,  the  Superintendent 
accordingly  moved  to  Troian  and  opened  the  school 
with  a  dozen  pupils  December  i,  in,  however,  only  a 
rented  house. 

The  Superintendent  presided,  no  Bishop  being  pres- 
ent, at  the  Annual  Meeting  in  Loftcha  September,  1881. 

The  missionaries  now  numbered  four,  with  their  wives, 
to  wit :  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  C.  Challis,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  F. 
Lounsbury,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  S.  Ladd,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
A.  R.  Jones.  The  foreign  staff  of  the  mission  had  al- 
ways been  an  uncertain  factor  in  its  working  force. 
From  1857  to  1875  there  was  not  an  average  of  more 
than  one  efficient  missionary  continuously  on  the  field. 
There  were  now  four  ordained  Bulgarian  preachers  : 
Stephen  Thomoff,  J.  I.  Economoff,  Gabriel  Eleiff,  and 
Stephen  Getchoff.  Yordaky  Tswettkoff  was  a  local 
preacher  and  Petko  Ivanoff  an  exhorter,  both  of  whom 
were  appointed,  however,  in  charge  of  work,  the  one  at 
Plevna,  the  other  at  Orchania.  Superintendent  Challis, 
with  Stephen  Getchoff,  was  located  at  Loftcha,  Mr. 
Lounsburywasassigned  toRustchuk,Mr.Thomoffand  Mr. 


After  the  War.  247 

Ladd  toSistof,  Mr.  Economoff  and  Mr.  Jones  to  Tiinova, 
and  Mr.  Eleiff  to  Selvi.  Part  of  this  Bulgarian  force  had 
been  educated  in  America  and  could  render  indispensa- 
ble service,  but  the  higher  salaries  paid  to  such — and 
rightly  so,  as  it  seemed  to  those  in  authority — made  it 
impossible  to  recruit  an  adequate  force  from  this  source. 
It  was  felt  that  men  must  be  raised  up  and  trained  on 
the  soil  who  could  live  in  comfort  and  with  self-respect 
on  such  salaries  as  the  native  churches  might  be  ex- 
pected to  pay,  and  that  such  a  body  must  constitute 
the  main  part  of  the  ministry  of  the  country.  Efforts 
had  been,  and  were  still,  being  made  to  raise  up  such  a 
ministerial  company,  with  what  success  the  future  his- 
tory of  the  mission  must  show,  it  being  merely  said  now 
by  anticipation  that  some  of  the  most  successful  of  the 
evangelists  and  pastors  of  the  mission  have  been  re- 
cruited from  this  class,  in  touch  with  the  common  peo- 
ple, and  intellectually  strong  enough  to  command  their 
respect. 

One  special  limitation  of  the  spiritual  advance  of  the 
mission  has  been  quite  too  little  accentuated — the  fact 
that  access  was  only  had  to  adult  people.  The  mission 
could  not  reach  the  yoimg  people  of  the  community  by 
reason  of  the  civil  prohibition  that  scholars  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  should  attend  its  meetings.  Those,  too,  in 
public  service  had  to  obtain  ])ermission  to  attend  the  re- 
ligious services  of  the  mission,  and  this  was  secured  with 
difficulty.  Most  of  the  office  holders  were  coolly  indif- 
ferent to  all  religion  and  cared  but  little  about  this  re- 
striction. To  them  the  Eastern  Church  was  only  a 
political  institution,  while  to  the  lower  classes,  ignorant 
of  the  devices  of  priestcraft,  it  was  a  controlling  force. 
Still   there  was  a  congregation   in  the  mission  at    Rust- 


248  Methodist  Immscopai,  Missions. 

chuk  mainly  of  young  men,  another  at  Yarna,  still  an- 
other at  Sistof,  where  a  new  church  edifice  with  a  par- 
sonage was  building,  and  at  Tirnova  the  house  was 
sometimes  full,  and  at  Loftcha  several  young  men  were 
attending  the  meetings. 

The  year  1882  found  the  mission  for  the  first  time  in 
the  quarter  of  a  century  of  its  checkered  history  in  pos- 
session of  a  Press  of  its  own.  It  was  now  printing  in 
Bulgarian,  Binney's  "  Theological  Compend  "and  "  Cate- 
chism No.  I,"  both  of  which  were  meeting  with  ready 
sale.  There  was  no  indication  of  a  lack  of  interest  in 
Bulgarian  literature,  more  Scriptures  having  been  sold 
this  year  than  in  any  previous  year  since  the  opening 
of  the  mission. 

There  was  a  small  increase  in  membership  in  all 
places,  except  Sistof. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  Girls'  Boarding  School  was 
opened  at  Troian  in  the  fall  of  1880  ;  but  the  winter  fol- 
lowing became  memorable  because  of  open  persecutions 
and  covert  intrigues  with  which  the  school  was  opposed, 
and  owing  to  which  it  proved  to  be  impossible  to  pur- 
chase property  for  its  use,  and  though  the  school  was 
maintained  to  the  end  of  the  year  the  anathemas  of  the 
bishop  so  terrorized  the  simple  villagers  that  they  were 
afraid  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  missionaries.  The 
servants  employed  about  the  mission  house  were  driven 
away,  the  owner  of  the  quarters  which  the  mission  had 
rented  was  offered  reimbursement  by  the  opponents  of 
the  cause  if  he  would  dispossess  the  missionaries,  and 
some  anticipated  seeing  the  premises  destroyed  at  the 
hands  of  incendiaries  under  tlie  inspiration  of  the  epis- 
copal malediction.  Of  those  disposed  to  sell  property 
to  the  mission  some  were  deterred  by  the  popular  oppo- 


After  iJie  War.  249 

sition,  and  others  demanded  prices  beyond  the  worth  of 
the  same  or  the  ability  of  the  mission  to  pay.  To  secure 
premises  on  rental  it  was  necessary  to  advance  money  to 
finish  some  half-built  house.  The  mass  of  the  people  in 
Troian,  as  in  most  other  villages,  were  in  the  power  of  the 
few  wealthy  tschorbagecs  ("  bosses  "),  who  could  turn 
them  out  of  their  homes  at  will.  It  was  known  that  many 
persons  were  prevented  openly  avowing  Protestantism 
through  fear  of  these,  though  numbers  of  them,  like 
Nicodemus,  studied  the  Scriptures  secretly. 

Failing  to  obtain  the  needed  land  in  Troian  the  trans- 
fer of  the  school  elsewhere  became  again  a  necessity, 
and  the  missionaries  turned  to  Loftcha,  where  an  excel- 
lent site  was  secured  before  antagonism  could  be  devel- 
oped, and  in  the  fall  of  1S81  the  school  was  reopened, 
partly  in  the  home  of  the  Bulgarian  pastor  at  Loftcha, 
and  partly  in  an  old,  dilapidated  house  near  by,  which 
the  missionaries  put  in  order  with  their  own  hands  and 
called  a  "Boarding  Hall."  Opposition  was  soon  mani- 
fested, but  the  year  closed  with  increased  attendance 
and  tokens  of  public  favor,  and  an  assistant  teacher  was 
obtained  from  the  Congregational  Mission. 

In  the  winter  of  1SS0-81,  a  few  weeks  subsequent  to 
tlie  opening  of  the  Girls'  Scliool,  Mrs.  Jones,  assisted  by 
Mr.  Economoff,  opened  a  school  for  boys  at  Tirnova,  in 
rented  quarters,  and  they  immediately  set  about  finding 
a  suitable  place  on  which  to  erect  a  school  building.  A 
fanatical  ex-priest,  then  prefect-governor  of  Tirnova  Dis- 
trict, used  his  influence  to  prevent  parties  completing 
the  sale  to  the  mission,  and  after  a  year's  effort  they  felt 
constrained  to  abandon  Tirnova,  greatly  to  the  regret  of 
many  of  the  best  citizens  of  the   place.     The  following 

year  tlie  .\nnual  Meeting,  presided  over  by  Bishop  Fos- 
17 


250  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ter,  as  we  sliall  see,  decided  on  the  removal  of  this  school 
to  Sistof,  where  the  mission  had  just  completed  the  erec- 
tion of  a  church  and  parsonage  in  one  building,  and  in 
wliich  a  temporary  schoolroom  could  be  had,  with  de- 
sirable property  adjoining  for  sale,  which  it  was  antici- 
pated might  be  secured.  The  school  was  accordingly 
established  here  in  November,  where  it  found  a  perma- 
nent home. 

Preparations  were  begun  in  February  for  the  erection 
of  buildings  on  the  lots  purchased.  This  was  the  signal 
for  the  outbreak  of  another  storm  of  opposition.  The 
whole  of  the  spring  months  was  spent  in  a  contest  with 
the  local  authorities,  led  on  by  the  fanatical  bishop. 
After  much  correspondence,  a  montli  spent  at  the  capi- 
tal, and  many  disappointments,  permission  was  granted 
to  erect  a  building,  calling  it  a  "  home,"  and  making  no 
mention  of  the  school. 

It  was  now  midsummer,  and  the  house  must  be  ready 
before  winter.  A  force  of  thirty  men  was  put  to  the 
work,  and  in  October  the  missionary  moved  his  family 
into  the  house. 

The  building  was  of  brick,  30x60  feet,  and  two  stories 
besides  a  basement  for  kitchen  and  dining  room  and  a 
large  sleeping  room  in  tlie  attic.  On  November  i  the 
school  was  opened.  A  day  or  two  before  this  the  city 
engineer  liad  apj^eared  on  the  scene  with  orders  to  stop 
the  work  on  a  legal  quibble,  which,  though  without  foun- 
dation, would  have  kept  us  from  finishing  it  that  year. 
He  was  surprised  to  find  the  missionaries  living  in 
the  building,  and  their  carpenters  just  getting  ready  to 
clear  out  the  schoolroom  for  occupancy.  The  feel- 
ing of  relief  experienced  at  thus  getting  the  institu- 
tion housed  free  from  the  endless  annoyances  of  rented 


After  the  War.  25 1 

quarters   can   only   be  appreciated  by   those  who  have 
Iiad  a  like  experience. 

1  2.  Persecutions. 

No  history  of  the  checkered  work  in  Bulgaria  would 
be  complete  that  did  not  touch  upon  the  various  perse- 
cutions it  has  endured.  In  a  general  sense  there  had 
always  been  persecution.  No  convert  was  ever  won 
without  passing  through  the  fire.  Every  kind  of  petty 
opposition  was  tried,  and  not  infrequently  resort  was  had 
to  personal  violence.  Boycotting  was  practiced  in  many 
cases  and  sometimes  with  effect — either  in  frightening 
the  convert  or  in  ruining  his  business. 

To  leave  the  Bulgarian  Church  seemed  to  the  mass  of 
the  people  like  renouncing  their  Bulgarian  citizenship. 
The  union  of  Church  and  State,  a  matter  of  course  to  the 
people  of  eastern  Europe,  was  doubly  significant  to  the 
Bulgarians.  While  their  system  of  doctrine  is  that  of  the 
eastern  Orthodox  or  Greek  Church,  and  boasts  its  an- 
tiquity, their  Church  organization  is  of  yesterday,  and  is 
connected  with  the  most  glorious  period  of  their  recent 
national  history.  It  was  officially  promulgated  by  im- 
perial proclamation  in  1870,  and  was  among  the  first 
substantial  fruits  of  their  agitation  for  national  autonomy. 
Their  bishops  were  their  official  representatives  before 
the  Turkish  authorities.  Their  church  edifices,  hitherto 
built  low  and  in  obscure  localities,  or  even  half  under 
ground,  and  surrounded  by  high  fences  to  i)revent  their 
offending  the  eye  of  their  Mohammedan  masters,  were 
now  permitted  to  stand  out  in  full  view,  resurrected  as  it 
were  from  the  ruins  of  their  glorious  past. 

The  Boys'  School  in  Sistof  was  started  in  1882  with  a 
full  corps  of  teachers  and  with  much  apparent  favor  on  the 


252  Methodist  Etiscopal  Missions. 

part  of  the  more  intelligent  of  tlie  people.  Our  enemies, 
however,  were  alert.  A  small  local  ])aper  was  induced 
to  act  in  their  interest,  and  the  ignorant  elements  of  so- 
ciety were  stirred  up  to  active  opposition.  Recent  po- 
litical events  were  favorable  to  their  purpose.  In  tlic 
summer  of  1S81  Prince  Alexander,  by  a  sort  of  coup 
d'etat,  had  temporarily  subverted  the  constitution  and  had 
himself  proclaimed  dictator.  Russian  intrigue,  how- 
ever, was  at  the  bottom  of  it  all,  and  within  a  year  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  government  was  in  their  hands. 
Two  Russian  generals  controlled  the  cabinet,  and  the 
prince  was  a  mere  figure-head.  Such  was  the  state  of 
affairs  in  the  fall  of  1882,  when  the  sudden  removal  of 
the  mission  to  Sistof  made  it  more  than  usually  promi- 
nent. It  did  not  take  the  enemy  very  long  to  find  a  pre- 
text for  attacking  the  school.  According  to  law  the 
opening  of  new  schools  must  be  always  after  due  notice 
had  been  given  to  the  authorities.  Such  notice  was 
given  to  the  school  inspector,  but  by  accident  or  design 
he  gave  no  receipt  for  it — a  formality  recpiired  of  all  offi- 
cials in  the  East,  and  he  was  easily  induced  to  deny  hav- 
ing any  official  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  the  school. 
On  this  ground  an  order  was  issued  by  the  Russian 
minister  closing  the  school  "on  account  of  its  illegal 
existence."  The  teachers  in  charge  refused  to  obey  an 
order  so  manifestly  unjust  and  subversive  of  all  guaran- 
te'ed  rights.  But  the  administrative  process  of  Russia 
is  not  embarrassed  by  law  or  precedent.  The  prefect 
came  with  a  force  of  gendarmes  and,  entering  the  build- 
ing (the  church),  declared  the  school  closed.  The 
teachers  remonstrating,  he  ordered  the  gendarmes  to 
seize  them — the  Bulgarians.  This  they  did  with  fiend- 
ish alacrity,  and  dragged  them  through  the  streets  and 


Persecutions.  253 

thrust  tlicm  into  a  filthy  jail.  He  then  closed  and  sealed 
the  building  and  (Jidered  the  pupils  to  disperse  to  their 
homes.  Meantime  tlie  rabble  were  gathered  from  the 
lower  town,  by  order  of  the  prefect,  and  assembled  in 
front  of  the  government  building  to  make  a  demonstra- 
tion against  the  heretics.  Immediately  it  was  tele- 
graphed to  the  Sophia  newspaper  that  "six  hundred  of 
the  citizens  of  Sistof  gathered  before  the  government 
building  and  demanded  the  removal  of  the  Protestants." 
A  petition  was  at  once  addressed  to  the  ministry  setting 
forth  the  facts  and  jjraying  for  permission  to  reopen  the 
school,  and  in  pressing  the  matter  upon  the  attention  of 
the  government  the  acting  superintendent  spent  three 
months  at  the  capital. 

It  was  near  the  end  of  April — the  school  was  closed 
in  January — that  a  reply  was  obtained  declining  to 
grant  the  request  "  for  the  present."  The  British  diplo- 
matic agent  at  once  informed  the  foreign  minister  that 
he  deemed  this  answer  unsatisfactory,  and  was  instructed 
by  his  government  that  the  rights  of  conscience  were  to 
be  insisted  on. 

Meantime  an  order  had  been  sent  closing  the  Girls' 
School  at  Loftcha,  which  was  obeyed  under  protest. 
During  the  Easter  holidays,  as  if  to  make  the  govern- 
ment still  more  odious,  some  drunken  men  made  a  riot- 
ous attack  upon  the  school  building  in  Loftcha,  break- 
ing down  the  doors  and  frightening  the  girls,  who  were 
still  there,  though  not  allowed  to  recite.  Mr.  Jones, 
who  had  been  temporarily  placed  in  charge  of  the  prop- 
erty, suffered  some  injury  from  the  attack  of  the  row- 
dies. 

Matters  came  to  a  crisis  when  the  National  Assembly 
(Sobranza)  was  called  together — for  the  forms  of  popular 


254  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

government  had  been  retained  all  the  time — and  the 
deputies  whose  election  had  been,  as  was  supposed,  duly 
supervised  by  the  authorities,  proceeded  in  a  body  to 
the  palace  and  demanded  the  restoration  of  the  Tirnova 
Constitution  !  Prince  Alexander,  tired  of  his  Russian 
masters,  surrendered  at  once  and  declared  the  constitu- 
tion restored.  The  Russian  generals  resigned  their 
"  ministry,"  left  the  country  the  same  day,  and  never 
were  people  more  rejoiced  at  the  departure  of  unwel- 
come guests.  A  Bulgarian  ministry  was  organized,  and 
once  more  the  country  was  free.  Within  a  few  weeks 
the  missionaries  were  permitted  to  reopen  the  schools, and 
the  greatest  persecution  of  their  history  was  at  an  end. 

In  October,  18S2,  the  Annual  Meeting  convened  at 
Sistof  under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  Foster.  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  J.  M.  Reid,  D.D.,  who  had  accom- 
panied Bishop  Foster  on  his  visit  to  the  missions  of 
western  Europe,  also  was  present  in  continuance  of  the 
official  commission  laid  upon  him  relating  to  special  in- 
terests of  the  Board.  Dr.  Reid,  in  his  report  to  the 
Board  at  New  York  after  his  return  from  Bulgaria,  made 
a  summary  of  the  existing  work  and  some  suggestions 
of  value  in  the  forming  of  a  judgment  as  to  the  policy 
of  administration  which  had  obtained  in  this  field.  He 
was  deeply  impressed  with  the  need  of  high  intelligence 
and  a  pure  Gospel  among  the  people  of  the  Greek 
Church,  a  form  of  Christianity  at  all  times  corrupt  and 
debasing,  but  here  at  its  very  worst.  The  Methodist 
Mission  was  the  only  evangelical  body  occupying  this 
field,  a  like  field  south  of  the  Balkans  having  been  suc- 
cessfully worked  for  many  years  by  the  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  missions.  The  mission  now  occupied 
four  stations,  though  others  had  been  entered  at  vari- 


Persecutions.  255 

ous  times  and  abandoned,  by  what  the  Secretary  called 
a  "  ruinous  vacillation."  Colporteurs  resided  at  two  or 
three  places  besides  the  established  stations. 

His  review  of  the  history  noted  that  several  times  the 
mission  had  been  interrupted,  once  by  the  withdrawal  of 
all  the  foreign  missionary  force  with  a  view  of  abandon- 
ing the  field,  and  once  by  a  war  that  ravaged  the  coun- 
try, preceded  and  followed  by  conditions  that  admitted 
of  no  successful  mission  work,  the  missionaries  mean- 
while constantly  facing  an  ignorant,  intolerant,  and  per- 
secuting priesthood.  Over  and  above  these  the  Secre- 
tary thought  the  greatest  cause  of  the  small  success  of 
the  mission  was  its  "own  evil  administration  from  the 
beginning."  He  rehearsed  some  salient  facts  to  confirm 
his  view.  What  was  accomplished  in  Rustchuk,  which 
now  reported  a  congregation  of  twenty-five  persons, 
aged  from  twelve  to  forty  years,  with  five  members  and 
six  probationers,  had  been  done  despite  three  removals 
of  place  of  worship  since  1880,  while  the  present  12x14 
room  occupied  for  service  was  concealed  in  a  dwelling 
house  located  in  an  obscure  street.  It  was  a  wonder 
that  any  adherents  remained  to  them.  Yet  this  was  one 
of  the  most  important  places  in  the  entire  princi})ality. 

There  were  nine  members  and  probationers  and  a  Sun- 
day school,  though  just  now  the  priests  had  driven  all  the 
children  out  of  it.  The  public  services  were  held  in 
the  parsonage  and  a  small  school  room.  In  Sistof  the 
congregation  averaged  thirty-five,  but  a  chapel  was 
dedicated  here  a  month  before  the  Annual  Meeting,  and 
the  congregation  was  afterward  steadily  maintained  at 
seventy-five.  Loftcha,  which  had  suffered  interrup- 
tions like  the  other  places,  had  since  the  war  gathered 
a  small  church  of  ten  souls.     It  was  here  that  in  an  early 


256  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

period  the  family  of  Getchoff  resided,  one  of  whom  was 
now  paslor  of  the  church  at  this  place.  The  father  and 
mother  of  Pastor  Getchoff,  one  of  his  brothers,  and  his 
wife  were  all  killed  by  the  Turks  during  the  war.  A 
church  edifice  was  just  now  completed  here,  the  total 
property,  however,  not  exceeding  $3,500  in  value.  Not 
the  least  hopeful  indication  of  the  rising  interest  in  Prot- 
estantism the  Secretary  found  in  the  more  than  one 
hundred  Bulgarians  in  Robert  College  and  the  evident 
turning  of  the  young  men  of  the  principality  toward 
the  mission. 

While  the  Bishop  and  Secretary  were  thus  inspecting 
and  weighing  the  needs  and  prospects  of  the  Bulgarian 
Mission  on  the  field,  the  General  Missionary  Committee 
at  its  session  in  November  was  in  warm  debate  about 
the  question  of  abandoning  the  mission  altogether,  as 
having  brought  no  adequate  compensation  for  the  ex- 
l)enditure  of  men  and  money  upon  it.  Motions  to  aban- 
don this  work  were  scarcely  a  novelty,  as  they,  had  been 
several  times  before  proposed,  but  an  unusual  carefulness 
of  investigation  was  made  now  by  some  of  the  members 
of  the  Board,  and  a  formidable  array  of  statements  were 
presented  against  making  further  appropriations  to  this 
mission.  A  more  able  and  earnest  debate  by  men  of 
equal  integrity  of  purpose  to  advance  the  cause  of  Christ, 
and  conducted  by  men  of  marked  ability  on  both  sides, 
could  scarcely  be  named  in  the  history  of  tlie  Mission- 
ary Society. 

It  was  said  that  after  long  and  persistent  trial  it  had 
been  proved  to  be  impracticable  ;  that  the  people  as  a 
whole  were  unfavorable  to  the  mission,  while  other  peo- 
ples were  waiting  with  longing  eagerness  to  receive  the 
Gospel ;  that  it  was  wrong  to  use  the  money  where  no 


Persecutions.  257 

results  were  secured,  while  other  fruitful  fields  demanded 
so  much  more  of  men  and  means  than  could  be  granted 
them  ;  and  that  it  was  unwise,  if  not  wicked,  to  main- 
tain a  mission  out  of  mere  pride  which  has  shrunk  into 
conspicuous  failure.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained 
that  great  victory  had  come  to  most  unpromising  fields 
of  other  societies  after  most  tedious  and  discouraging 
years  of  failure  ;  that  the  geographical  and  political  situ- 
ation of  Bulgaria  as  a  pivotal  state  between  the  great 
powers  of  Europe  and  Asia  made  it  strategically  of  vast 
importance  to  permeate  these  masses  with  Gospel  influ- 
ences and  principles  even  where  no  formulated  results 
were  possible  ;  that  it  was  unjust  to  argue  against  this 
mission  the  ^outlay  of  all  its  history,  as  it  had  been  but 
four  years  since  the  present  mission  work  could  be  said 
to  be  chargeable  with  the  money  outlay,  because  the 
church  had  been  practically  buried  as  a  martyr  church  in 
the  terrible  Russo-Turkish  war  of  1877  ;  that  the  Church 
had  accepted  the  responsibility  of  this  field  by  transfer 
from  another  society  to  itself;  that  the  present  policy  of 
the  mission,  but  five  years  old,  had  not  been  sufficiently 
tested  to  determine  its  future  possibilities  ;  that  we  had  a 
church  which  we  should  not  abandon  after  its  members 
had  followed  our  standard  through  blood  and  the  loss  of 
all  things  for  conscience'  sake  ;  that  the  hostile  attitude 
of  the  priesthood  and  of  the  rabble  might  be  pleaded  as 
a  reason  why  we  should  not  retreat,  since  a  great  ques- 
tion of  religious  liberty  was  at  issue,  and  as  Americans 
we  might  have  peculiar  advantages  in  such  a  conflict 
and  contribute  to  the  development  of  a  great  independ- 
ent state  whose  legislators  were  desirous  of  religious 
freedom  and  the  recognition  of  the  equal  right  of  all  men  ; 
besides,  Bulgaria  was  the  only  place  where  Methodism 


258  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

touched  the  great  Greek  Church,  and  it  was  the  entrance 
to  the  vast  territory  over  which  it  was  sj)read.  The  argu- 
ments and  weight  of  influence  in  this  great  discussion  pre- 
ponderated against  the  appropriation  sought  to  be  made, 
but  at  this  critical  juncture  a  cable  communication  re- 
ceived from  Bishop  Foster  and  Secretary  Reid,  recom- 
mending a  liberal  advance  in  the  appropriation  to  sus- 
tain new  plans  and  a  broader  policy  which  had  been 
matured  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  caused  the  determina- 
tion of  the  question  favorably  to  the  continuance  of  the 
mission,  "without  debate,"  for  at  least  some  few  years  to 
come,  and  a  liberal  sum  of  money  was  voted  to  the  mis- 
sion for  the  ensuing  year.  Ten  thousand  dollars  was 
appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  missionaries  and 
other  laborers,  and  four  thousand  dollars  for  real  estate. 

Hitherto  but  8  American  missionaries  had  been  sent 
to  the  field,  4  of  whom  were  still  there,  and  6  wives  of 
missionaries.  Four  native  converts  had  been  ordained, 
showing  at  present  8  ordained  missionaries.  The  act- 
ual church  membership  numbered  but  40,  with  70  schol- 
ars in  the  Sunday-school,  and  there  were  20  in  the  day 
schools.  The  real  estate  was  valued  at  $4,000.  The 
total  appropriation  of  money  and  the  number  of  mis- 
sionaries were  as  remarkably  small  as  were  the  results 
that  could  be  tabulated. 

The  next  Annual  Meeting  convened  under  the  Super- 
intendent's presidency  at  Loftcha  September,  1S83. 
The  political  outlook  was  more  favorable  than  for  many 
years  previous.  A  combined  theological  school  and  day 
school  had  been  commenced,  as  we  have  seen,  at  Sistof, 
a  year  ago.  Citizens  began  to  patronize  the  school ;  con- 
gregations were  greatly  increased  ;  but  all  was  not  smooth 
advance.     A  small  but  powerful   clique  used  its  influ- 


Persecutions.  259 

ence  to  crush  out  the  mission  and  break  up  its  schools. 
This  was  done  by  men  who  were  seeking  the  subversion 
of  the  political  constitution  of  the  principality.  A  pre- 
text was  found  that,  when  the  missionaries  notified  the 
inspector  according  to  law  of  the  opening  of  the  school, 
they  failed  to  get  a  receipt  for  the  notice,  and  so  could 
present  no  written  evidence  that  they  had  complied  with 
the  regulations  imposed.  The  inspector  positively  de- 
nied having  received  such  a  notice,  and  so  an  order  was 
issued  by  the  Russian  Minister  of  Education  closing  the 
American  school  at  Sistof.  The  missionaries  denied 
the  right  to  do  this,  but  the  local  magistrate  proceeded 
to  execute  the  order.  The  Bulgarian  teachers,  Mr. 
Thomoff  and  Mr.  Economoff,  were  violently  arrested 
and  dragged  to  jail.  The  American  missionaries  were 
insulted  and  the  house  was  sealed.  At  the  same  time 
a  mob  surrounded  the  courthouse  demanding  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  missionaries  from  Sistof.  All  possible 
efforts  were  made  to  induce  the  authorities  at  Sophia, 
the  capital,  to  permit  the  reopening  of  the  school,  but 
in  vain,  and  presently  an  order  was  issued  closing  the 
Girls'  School  at  Loftcha,  which  had  been  going  on  for 
three  years  with  the  knowledge  of  the  authorities. 

The  mission  house  at  Loftcha  was  violently  attacked 
by  the  mob.  The  political  heavens  were  dark.  The 
anti-constitutional  ministers,  however,  were  ousted  from 
power,  and  the  whole  government  was  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  two  Russian  generals,  doubtless  by  order 
of  the  Czar,  the  constitution  was  restored,  and  the  liberal 
leaders  restored  to  power. 

September  28  brought  a  telegram  from'  the  English 
Consul  directing  the  missionaries  to  inform  the  inspector 
of  their  intention  to  reopen  the  school.  They  proceeded 


26o  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

in  accordance  with  tliis,  and  on  October  i  the  Sistof  day 
school  was  resumed,  and  the  Girls'  School  at  Loft- 
cha  October  20.  This  matter  was  not,  however,  settled 
without  some  opposition  which  compelled  a  compro- 
mise, imposing  some  unpleasant  conditions  on  the 
schools ;  but  the  fact  remained  that  they  were  opened. 
There  had  been  no  direct  attempt  to  prevent  holding 
meetings  or  selling  books,  though  in  both  these  lines  the 
work  was  less  successful  for  a  time,  but  advanced  again 
rapidly  with  the  reopening  of  the  schools. 

A  considerable  addition  to  the  real  estate  of  the  mis- 
sion was  made  at  Sistof  by  the  purchase  of  a  large  lot 
adjoining  the  one  already  owned,  with  a  large  Turkish 
house  which  would  accommodate  the  school  for  some 
time  to  come  and  furnish  material  for  a  portion  of  a 
new  building  contemplated.  Property  was  also  bought 
at  Rustchuk.  The  printing  press  had  commenced  work 
in  June,  and  had  printed  already  135,600  pages  of  mat- 
ter, including  the  Discipline  and  several  tracts,  and  the 
"  Life  of  Wesley  "  was  ready  for  the  press.  The  mem- 
bership had  not  advanced,  but  the  fact  of  having  sur- 
vived the  conflict  at  all  was  a  triumph. 

Bishop  Hurst  convened  the  next  Annual  Meeting  in 
Rustchuk  October  i,  1884.  The  mission  felt  deeply  the 
loss  by  death  of  Mr.  Naidenoff,  of  Orchania,  who  had 
traveled  over  his  circuit  of  two  hundred  miles,  having 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  several  times  in  the  nine 
months  preceding  his  death.  Eight  theological  students 
were  out  for  their  fall  vacation,  selling  books  and  doing 
effective  work  as  evangelists.  Mr.  T.  Constantine  and 
his  wife  were  added  to  the  mission  force.  The  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  had  now  accepted  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  Girls'  School  at  Loftcha,  and  had  sent  Miss 


Persecutions.  26 1 

Liiina  Schenck  from  America  to  take  charge  of  it,  thus 
in  part  relieving  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Challis,  who  had  till  now 
had  the  charge  of  it  from  the  beginning,  though  Mr. 
Challis  continued  to  teach  in  the  school.  There  had 
been  fifteen  boarding  pupils  in  this  school,  but  the  new 
year  opened  with  eighteen  and  five  day  pupils.  Of  all 
sections  of  the  mission  field  this  year  the  villages  around 
Rasgard,  in  the  Lower  Danube,  showed  the  most  real 
interest  in  the  truth,  thougli  it  had  till  now  been  the  seat 
of  the  most  violent  persecution. 

1  3.  War  Again. 

In  the  year  1885  came  a  new  distraction  in  the  form  of 
revolution. 

The  province  of  Eastern  Roumelia,  a  beautifully  diver- 
sified country,  lying  just  south  of  the  Balkans,  while 
essentially  free  to  manage  its  own  affairs,  was  neverthe- 
less separated  from  the  rest  of  Bulgaria,  and  hence  dis- 
satisfied. A  plot,  cleverly  arranged  and  boldly  executed, 
freed  this  province  from  its  Turkish  allegiance  and 
placed  a  united  Bulgaria  under  the  control  of  Prince  Al- 
exander. The  Turkish  authorities  made  slight  show  of 
resistance,  and  the  Western  powers  had  little  to  say  in 
opposition. 

Not  so,  however,  with  Russia.  The  work  had  been 
done  without  her  knowledge  or  consent,  and  in  pursu- 
ance of  the  national  policy  of  the  Bulgarians,  which  was 
not  popular  at  St.  Petersburg.  Her  officers  in  the  Bul- 
garian army  were  called  home,  and  Servia,  envious  at 
the  enlargement  of  her  neighbors,  was  encouraged  to  lay 
claim  to  a  slice  off  the  western  side  of  Bulgaria. 

Deprived  of  the  most  of  their  officers,  and  their  west- 
ern border  already  invaded,  the  situation  did  not  seem 


262  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

promising  to  the  Uulgarians.  Their  army  was  mostly 
concentrated  on  the  Turkish  frontier,  two  hundred  miles 
from  the  point  attacked  by  the  Servians,  who  were  al- 
ready within  sight  of  the  capital.  But  a  good  genius  was 
present  in  the  person  of  Alexander.  Like  Joshua,  he 
"went  all  night,"  and  appeared  on  the  field  with  the 
main  body  of  his  army  at  a  critical  juncture  A  two  days' 
battle  made  the  village  of  Slionitza  immortal,  and  turned 
the  invader  back.  Then  followed  a  series  of  victories, 
and  in  ten  days  more  the  Servians  were  humbled,  and 
but  for  the  timely  intervention  of  Austria  terms  of  peace 
would  have  been  dictated  by  Alexander  from  their  own 
capital.  Patriotism  was  at  high  tide.  Public  schools 
were  closed,  and  teachers  and  pupils  started  for  the  seat 
of  war. 

Loftcha  was  on  the  line  of  communication  with  the 
north  and  east  of  Bulgaria,  and  was  kept  in  constant 
excitement  by  the  forays  of  troops  or  prisoners  of  war 
and  the  almost  hourly  bulletins  of  victory.  The  Girls' 
School  building  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Red 
Cross  Society  for  a  hospital,  beds  were  prepared  for  the 
wounded,  and  the  girls  worked  at  preparing  lint  and 
bandages.  But  the  war  closing  so  soon,  the  wounded 
were  cared  for  near  the  field.  We  were  excused  from 
carrying  out  our  plan  ;  but  the  people  were  none  the 
less  grateful  for  the  practical  sympathy  shown  by  the 
Americans. 

The  Annual  Meeting  convened  at  Sistof  July  lo,  1885, 
Superintendent  Challis  presiding.  Through  all  the  im- 
pending political  and  military  commotion  the  mission 
still  had  the  attention  of  the  people,  and  congregations 
were  maintained.  Rustchuk  added  six  members  and 
five  probationers,  and  the  most  definite  Christian  con- 


fVar  Again.  263 

versions  were  shown  in  the  experience  of  converts  the 
mission  had  yet  known.  Mr.  Constantine  arrived  at 
Varna  to  begin  a  mission  work.  Miss  Clara  Klaia,  sup- 
])orted  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  was 
meeting  with  marked  success  as  a  Bible  reader  in  the 
Lower  Danube  district ;  Miss  Shenck  was  making  a 
good  record  in  the  Girls'  School.  The  Theological 
School,  under  Mr.  Ladd,  had  an  average  of  twenty  stu- 
dents, with  fifteen  in  the  primary  school.  The  Press  had 
issued  546,400  pages  and  bound  1,000  volumes  in  cloth. 

Bishop  Ninde  held  the  Annual  Meeting  at  Loftcha 
September  16,  1S86.  There  were  now  six  Bulgarian 
local  preachers  acting  as  supply  pastors  in  charge  of  cir- 
cuits. There  were  four  districts — namely.  Lower  Dan- 
ube, Upper  Danube,  Varna,  and  Balkan  districts. 

Bishop  Ninde  recognized  that  the  open  opposition  was 
less  than  formerly,  the  intelligent  classes  were  drifting 
into  agnosticism,  with  no  respect  for  the  native  Church, 
though  standing  by  Protestantism  from  motives  of  secu- 
lar policy,  and  hence  that  the  progress  of  the  mission 
must  for  some  years  to  come  be  necessarily  slow.  He 
thought  the  schools  were  doing  good  work,  and  the  prop- 
erty of  the  mission  was  valuable. 

The  Mayor  of  Loftcha  attended  one  of  the  evening 
services,  and  many  young  men  were  found  in  the  con- 
gregations. There  was  a  gain  in  members  and  adherents, 
and  the  bishop  thought  there  should  be  no  question 
about  the  permanent  continuance  of  this  mission.  The 
Lower  Danube  District,  "  the  forlorn  hope  of  Meth- 
odism in  Eastern  Europe,"  now  had  heads  of  families 
who  were  members  or  probationers  in  Rustchuk,  Bala, 
Bulgarski,  Kosoue,  Silistria,  Endjekuvi,  Guzeldjialan, 
and  Suzla, 


264  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

On  August  15  a  Methodist  Episcopal  church  was  or- 
ganized at  Varna,  of  two  members  who  had  been  on  pro- 
bation some  two  months  and  four  now  received  on  pro- 
bation. Plevna  gave  promise  of  becoming  a  first-class 
appointment.  There  was  an  increase  of  members  at  all 
points,  an  increase  of  adherents,  an  extension  of  the 
work  among  villages,  and  an  increase  in  the  spirituality 
of  the  mission. 

The  Annual  Meeting  was  guided  by  the  Superin- 
tendent as  President  at  its  session  in  Sistof  July  10, 1S87. 
Miss  Ella  E.  Fincham  was  added  to  the  staff  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  workers.  The 
Annual  Meeting  was  the  "most  enthusiastic  and  thor- 
oughly self-respecting  body  of  the  kind  "  the  mission 
had  yet  convened.  Six  young  Bulgarians,  educated  in  the 
country,  were  now  on  the  preaching  staff,  and  there  were 
in  all  thirty  workers.  There  were  four  primary  schools, 
and  the  Girls'  High  School,  under  Miss  Schenck,  and 
the  Boys'  Theological  and  Literary  Institute,  under  Mr. 
Ladd,  were  doing  good  work,  with  increased  patronage 
by  the  better  class  of  citizens.  There  was  encouraging 
progress  on  all  districts.  A  young  married  man,  con- 
verted on  the  Lower  Danube  district,  was  driven  from 
his  father's  house,  but  stood  firm.  The  members  of  that 
district  contributed  $160  to  the  general  Missionary  So- 
ciety collection,  and  members  were  arranging  to  con- 
tribute one  tenth  of  their  income  for  the  work,  though 
they  were  worshiping  in  an  old  Turkish  house  with  only 
a  seven  feet  high  ceiling.  Many  adherents  at  Varna,  on 
the  Black  Sea  district,  were  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the 
work,  who  yet  feared  to  take  open  stand  with  it.  Four 
Avere  received  into  full  membership  and  two  on  proba- 
tion, though  they,  too,  were  worshiping  in  an  old  Turk- 


JVar  Again.  265 

ish  harem,  and  obliged  to  pass  through  three  doors  to 
reach  the  audience  room.  The  congregation  at  Loftchu 
averaged  50,  and  the  Sunday  school  had  reached  150  in 
attendance.  The  Girls'  School  had  grown  from  28  to  52. 
Over  ^400  was  paid  for  ministerial  support. 

Bishop  Mallalieu  convened  the  Annual  Meeting  at 
Rustchuk  September  12,  1888.  This  year  was  much  like 
its  predecessor — a  quiet  general  advance  all  along  the 
line,  except  in  the  press,  which  being  old  when  received 
had  now  become  worn  out.  The  colporteur  work  of  this 
mission  had  always  been  quietly  sowing  good  seed  over 
the  land,  and  this  year  2,200  Bulgarian  books,  9,000 
tracts,  and  655  copies  of  Scriptures  had  been  sold,  it 
having  from  the  first  been  the  policy  not  to  give  away 
the  literature. 

Bishop  Fowler  held  the  Annual  Meeting,  April  22, 1889, 
at  Loftcha.  Rev.  J.  M.  Buckley,  D.D.,  editor  of  TAe 
Christian  Advocate,  and  long  a' member  of  the  Board  at 
New  York,  visited  the  mission,  and  was  present  at  this 
session  of  the  Annual  Meeting. 

The  year  had  been  one  of  more  than  usual  difficulty. 
The  reduction  of  the  appropriation  weakened  the  aggress- 
ive power  from  within,  while  from  without  the  mission  was 
compelled  to  meet  an  organized  attack  more  severe  than 
had  been  experienced  since  1883.  A  circular  from  the 
Exarch  directed  all  the  authorities,  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical, to  take  strict  measures  against  the  spread  of 
Protestantism  and  Romanism  in  the  principality,  and  the 
bishops  instructed  the  priests  to  be  watchful  against  the 
free  distribution  of  tracts  and  to  report  all  attempts  at 
proselytism.  The  Minister  of  Education  issued  a  circular 
forbidding  the  employment  of  non-Bulgarian  teachers  in 

private  schools,  and  the  Minister  of  Justice  forbade  the 

18 


266  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

circulation  of  the  "  Protestant  Bible  "  in  the  prisons. 
The  Minister  of  War  forbade  the  sale  of  Protestant 
books  in  the  army,  and  the  Minister  of  Public  Worship 
bestirred  himself  to  close  the  public  services  in  places 
where  the  mission  was  not  "  recognized."  The  Minister 
of  Finance  discovered  a  new  interpretation  of  the  tax  law, 
whereby  he  ordered  the  payment  of  a  round  income  tax 
by  all  teachers  of  this  rnission  for  the  past  five  years  ! 

Tulcha,  in  Roumania,  abandoned  two  years  before, 
was  reopened  with  a  Sunday  audience  of  forty  persons. 
The  city  population  numbered  twenty-five  thousand,  one 
half  Roumanian  and  Russian,  one  half  Bulgarian.  The 
new  school  building  at  Tirnovawas  publicly  inaugurated 
September  30.  A  new  chapel  was  opened  December  9 
at  Varna,  where  eleven  persons  were  received  on  proba- 
tion. A  church  lot  was  secured  at  Loftcha,  or  at  least 
three  owners  out  of  four  of  the  property  desired  had 
sold,  and  negotiations  were  about  concluded  for  the 
fourth  section. 

The  Publishing  House  rejoiced  in  a  new  press,  secured 
through  Bishop  Mallalieu,  who  obtained  a  gift  of  the  same 
from  some  one  unnamed,  and  its  issues  reached  420,000 
pages,  a  "  Church  History  "  being  one  of  its  publi- 
cations. 

Bishop  Warren  met  the  Annual  Meeting  in  its  session 
September  10,  1890.  A  thousand  francs,  contributed 
locally,  enabled  the  mission  to  fit  up  a  chapel  and  school 
at  Hotantza,  on  Rustchuk  District.  A  mob  broke  up  an 
attempt  to  conduct  worship  in  Silistria,  but  a  congrega- 
tion of  twenty  persons  was  organized  in  another  local- 
ity. The  colporteur  was  beaten  and  driven  out  of  Do- 
britch,  on  Varna  District.  For  the  first  time  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered  at  Shumla.     A  week  of  prayer 


JVar  Again.  269 

at  Loftcha  resulted  in  several  additions  to  the  list  of 
probationers.  The  young  preacher  at  Selvi  was  illegally 
drafted  into  the  army,  being  taken  from  his  congregation 
of  fifty  persons.  Four  young  men  graduated  from  the 
Sistof  school — one  to  teach  in  the  national  schools,  one 
to  take  charge  of  the  Press,  two  to  work  on  circuits. 

Stalker's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  four  books  of  the  Chautau- 
qua Home  College  course,  and  new  editions  of  the  Cate- 
chism and  the  Discipline  were  among  the  Press  issues 
of  the  year.  There  were  now  128  members,  35  proba- 
tioners, and  132  adherents,  with  369  average  attendance 
on  Sabbath  worship,  yet  there  were  only  three  church 
and  chapel  edifices,  all  told  worth  but  $7,150.  The 
local  contributions  aggregated  $646,  or  $5  for  each 
member. 

Bishop  Walden  held  the  Annual  Meeting  in  Rustchuk 
April  24,  1 89 1.  Rev.  D.  W.  C.  Challis,  who  had  been 
connected  with  the  mission  since  1875,  faithful,  patient, 
and  long  suffering  amidst  all  the  varying  fortunes,  polit- 
ical, social,  and  ecclesiastical,  which  constituted  the  en- 
vironment of  the  mission,  being  most  of  the  time  the  su- 
perintendent of  the  mission,  was  now  appointed  Presi- 
dent of  the  Literary  and  Theological  Institute,  and  Rev. 
George  S.  Davis,  of  Nebraska,  was  appointed  Superin- 
tendent of  tlie  mission. 

Bishop  Walden  introduced  some  changes  in  the  mis- 
sion regime,  leaving  the  superintendent  free  to  perform 
the  duties  of  presiding  elder,  and  tlie  "  time  limit  "  being 
applied  nine  men  became  pastors  of  new  charges.  The 
Bishop  dedicated  a  beautiful  stone  church  edifice  at 
Rustchuk  on  the  Sunday  of  Conference  week.  M.  Del- 
chefF,  a  Bulgarian,  recently  graduated  from  Drew  Semi- 
nary, with  his  wife,  was  added  to  the  staff  of  workers. 


270  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  Girls'  High  School  at  Loftcha  had  graduated 
twenty-five  young  women.  The  attendance  on  the  Sis- 
tof  Scientific  and  Theological  School  was  thirty-three. 
Mr.  Challis  now  retired  to  America. 

14.  Mission  Conference  Organized. 

The  General  Conference,  May,  1892,  directed  that  the 
mission  should  become  a  Mission  Conference,  its  bound- 
aries to  be  those  of  the  Principality  of  Bulgaria,  and  the 
central  station  to  be  at  the  city  of  Sistof,  on  the  Danube 
River. 

In  accordance  with  this  provision,  when  Bishop  Joyce 
convened  the  usual  annual  gathering  of  the  mission  at 
Sistof,  September  20,  1892,  he  organized  the  Mission  Con- 
ference, and  the  proceedings  were  conducted  correspond- 
ingly. Three  pastors  were  ordained  elders,  and  four 
preachers  were  ordained  deacons.  Several  persons 
were  converted  at  three  "  altar  services  "  conducted  by 
the  Bishop.  One  convert  had  come  a  hundred  miles  to 
the  meetings,  and  was  in  such  a  state  of  spiritual  ecstasy 
that  he  seriously  proposed  drawing  the  Bishop  through 
the  town  where  he  lived  with  six  of  the  largest  fresh- 
water buffaloes  to  be  found.  The  proposal  was  compro- 
mised by  the  Bishop  taking  supper  at  his  house.  The 
contributions  now  reached  $13  per  member,  and  a 
Church  Extension  Fund  had  enabled  them  to  erect  a 
church  and  parsonage  at  Tirnova.  The  press  was  in  ac- 
tive operation,  and  a  monthly  periodical,  the  Christian 
World,  had  reached  its  eighth  number,  with  four  hun- 
dred subscribers.  The  Tract  Society  subsidized  its  pub- 
lication. 

A  lagoon  which  rendered  Sistof  malarious,  close  by  the 
school,  caused  a  discussion  about  the  removal  of  the 


War  Again.  271 

school  to  some  other  place,  though  it  now,  under  Dr. 
M.  G.  Vulcheff,  was  doing  well  and  had  many  stu- 
dents. The  Woman's  Missionary  Society  purchased  the 
parsonage  at  Loftcha,  with  a  view  to  enlarging  its  ca- 
pacity to  entertain  its  growing  number  of  pupils.  Per- 
secution had  not  ceased.  The  pastor  at  Yaidjea  was 
cruelly  beaten  with  clubs,  whicli  disabled  him  from  pas- 
toral work.  The  wife  and  child  of  another  were  torn 
from  him,  their  return  to  him  being  proposed  on  the 
impossible  condition  to  him  that  he  renounce  Protes- 
tantism. 

Bishop  Vincent  held  the  Bulgaria  Mission  Confer- 
ence at  Varna  August,  1893.  Mr.  Davis  was  the  only 
American  missionary  on  the  field,  the  others  having  re- 
tired to  America.  The  Loftcha  Girls'  School  was  in 
charge  of  Miss  Kate  B.  Blackburn,  Miss  Schenck  being 
absent  in  America.  Two  of  the  latest  pupils  admitted 
were  daughters  respectively  of  the  mayor  and  the  priest 
of  a  neighboring  city.  Plans  were  entertained  for  the 
fuller  development  of  the  Theological  and  Literary 
School  at  Sistof,  now  enrolling  forty  students. 

The  Superintendent  declared  that  the  mere  statement 
that  one  hundred  and  fifty  members  were  now  enrolled 
could  give  no  idea  of  the  influence  of  the  mission  in  Bul- 
garia. He  afifirmed  that  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  mission  was  the  lack  of  property  as  an  evi- 
dence of  permanency. 

The  incomplete  report  at  the  end  of  1893  showed  as 
follows:  Circuits  or  stations,  15;  foreign  missionaries, 
2;  wives,  2;  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  i; 
native  ordained  preachers,  14;  native  teachers,  9;  other 
helpers,  3;  members,  150;  probationers,  50;  children 
baptized  during  the  year,   14;  value   of  churches   and 


272  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

chapels,  $9,125;  parsonages  and  homes,  $6,800;  school, 
orphanage,  book  room,  and  other  property,  $16,300; 
Missionary  Society  collection,  $120;  for  self-support, 
$130;  for  other  purposes,  $700.  The  Press  issues  of 
the  year  were  432,000  pages. 


CPaesaro  10 


PAET  XI. 

MISSION     TO     I  T  A  L  Y. 


Fcr  that  day  shall  not  come,  except  there  come  a  /ailing  away  first,  a7id 
that  man  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition  :  who  opposeth  and  exaltcth 
himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshiped ;  so  that  ke  as  God 
sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God.  .  .  .  And  then 
shall  that  IVicked  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit 
of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  his  coming  :  even  him, 
whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all  power  and  signs  and 
lying  wonders. — 2  Thess.  ii,  j,  4,  8,  g. 

1.  Projection,  1 832-1 870. 
'T^HE  first  friend  and  steadfast  advocate  of  a  mission 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  Italy  was 
Rev.  Charles  Elliott,  D,  D.  His  researches  in  the  prep- 
aration of  his  elaborate  work,  "  Delineations  of  Roman- 
ism," fully  persuaded  him  of  the  irremediable  apostasy 
of  Roman  Catholicism.  His  broad  intelligence  and 
sleepless  zeal  burned  to  confront  every-where,  with  the 
open  Gospel,  an  organization  so  forgetful  of  the  old 
wass  and  of  revealed  truth;  so  madly  abandoned  to  the 
doctrines  and  inventions  of  men  ;  and  which,  in  its  ma- 
lign aggressiveness,  threatened  to  subvert  the  liberties. 
to  pervert  the  conscience,  and  to  destroy  the  spiritual 
(leacp  and  health,  of  the  world. 

In  1832  he  first  began  publicly  to  discuss  the  feasi- 
bility of  a  Methodist  mission  to  Italy.  Thenceforward, 
in  private  circles,  in  print,  and  in  public  discourse, 
lie  often  recurred  to  the  subject.  He  caused  great 
amusement  frequently  in  companies  of  ministers  by  his 


274  Metro oisT  Episcopal  Missions. 

peculiar,  good-n;itured,  and  impassioned  advocacy  ot 
this  favorite  project.  On  these  occasions,  sometimes, 
he  graphically  prophesied  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  as  established  in  Rome,  her  enthusiastic  mis- 
sionaries turning  the  Eternal  City  "upside  down,'  the 
Pope  on  his  knees  at  the  mourner  s  bench  crying  for  mer- 
cy, and  afterward  recounting  his  experience  in  a  class- 
meeting  !  To  some  minor  clericals,  who  neither  bore 
the  world,  Atlas-like,  on  their  shoulders,  nor.  Elliott- 
like, in  their  hearts,  these  occasions  passed  for  innocent 
private  theatricals — a  complacent  clerical  comedy ! 

Dr.  Elliott's  convictions,  enthusiasm,  and  courage 
grew,  however,  despite  dissuasive  ridicule  and  admoni 
tory  indifference,  and  about  April,  1850,  he  broke  forth 
in  such  vigorous  public  advocacy  of  a  mission  to  Italy 
that  the  project  could  no  longer  be  treated  as  a  joke, 
but  irresolution  and  opposition  were  compelled  to  re- 
spond seriously.  Though  he  labored  much  with  influ- 
ential personages,  especially  with  Bishop  Morris  and 
Dr.  Durbin,  he  failed  to  engender  a  conviction  that 
the  work  should  be  undertaken.  Even  after  he  had 
retired  from  active  ministerial  service,  and  had  become 
greatly  debilitated  by  paralysis,  he  dwelt  much  upon  his 
favorite  theme. 

In  1867,  about  a  year  before  his  death,  writing  to  his 
son-in-law.  Rev.  Leroy  M.  Vernon,  then  President  of  St. 
Charles  College,  St.  Charles,  Missouri,  he  suggested  and 
discussed  a  plan  for  a  mission  to  Italy,  asking  Mr.  "Ver- 
non flow  he  would  like  to  go  with  two  or  three  associates 
to  plant  Metliodism  there.  This  suggestion  was  read 
respectfully,  yet  viewed  as  the  final  flickering  of  a  vet- 
eran's fancy,  or  an  ardent  heart's  life -long  dream,  which 
a  long-lived  laborious  robustness  had  not  sufficed  to  ful- 
fill.    Scarcely  had  Dr.  Elliott  rested  "from  his  labors" 


Projection^  183  2-1 870.  275 

when  providential  circumstances  matured  the  Church 
for  action. 

Rev.  Gilbert  (later  Bishop)  Haven,  together  with  oth- 
ers, had  long  sturdily  advocated  an  Italian  mission. 
The  Missionary  Society,  at  its  Annual  Meeting,  No- 
vember 16,  1869,  referred  to  the  Board  a  proposition  to 
institute  missions  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  Mexico.  On 
January  18,  1870,  the  Board  appointed  a  committee,  of 
which  Rev.  Gilbert  Haven  was  chairman,  to  consider 
and  report  on  the  above  proposition.  The  committee 
presented,  February  15,  1870,  through  its  chairman,  a 
clear,  exhaustive  report,  which  concluded  thus: — 

"  Resolved^  That  we  approve  of  the  establishment  of  a 
mission  in  Italy,  and  the  appointment  of  not  exceeding 
two  men  to  that  field,  the  Bishop  concurring,  and  we 
authorize  the  Treasurer  to  draw  from  the  contingent 
fund  the  amount  necessary  to  support  the  same." 

The  report,  then  read  and  laid  on  the  table,  was  taken 
up  and  considered  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board,  held  Sep- 
tember 20,  1870,  and,  pending  a  motion  to  adopt  the 
resolution,  the  following  was  adopted  as  a  substitute : — 

^^  Resolved,  That  we  approve  the  establishment  of  mis- 
sions in  Italy  and  Mexico  as  soon  as  practicable,  and 
we  earnestly  call  the  attention  of  the  General  Mission- 
ary Committee  to  this  subject." 

The  aforesaid  report,  treating  of  Italy  particularly, 
says : — 

"  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Italy,  with  its 
center  at  Bologna,  the  nearest  approach  as  yet  possible 
to  the  city  of  apostasy,  would  make  the  Pope  and  his 
associates  see,  as  they  never  otherwise  will,  the  hand- 
writing of  God  against  their  idolatrous  counterfeit  of 
Christianity.  We  shall  move  thence  to  the  walls  of 
Rome,  and  renew  that  land  of  apostolic  labor  and  mar- 


276  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tyrdoni — that  land  sacred  with  the  blood  of  millions  of 
witnesses  for  tlie  faith — in  the  apostolic  faith,  in  the  love 
and  joy  and  truth  that  sustained  the  martyrs,  and  made 
it  the  chosen  seat  for  many  centuries  of  the  true  Gospel. 
We  shall,  also,  thus  oppose  the  power  of  the  Man  of 
Sin  in  our  own  land,  and  hasten  his  downfall." 

Whence  it  appears,  that,  as  in  Dr.  Elliott  s  letter 
above  cited  there  was  a  shimmer  of  prophecy  of  the 
missionary  superintendent,  so  Bishop  Haven's  repoil 
prophetically  traced  the  location  and  course  of  the 
mission  itself 

2.  Preparation,  1871,  1872. 

Early  in  1871  Dr.  Leroy  M.  Vernon,  attending  in 
New  York  a  meeting  of  the  Book  Committee,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  was  greatly  surprised  by  a  proposition 
from  Bishop  Ames  to  go  to  Italy  as  a  missionary.  More 
than  willing  to  evade  so  grave  a  task,  he  replied  that, 
tethered  by  his  two  motherless  children,  engrossed  by 
useful  and  ever-increasing  labors  in  the  St.  Louis  Con- 
ference, on  his  own  part  he  really  desired  no  change, 
certainly  not  to  an  undertaking  for  which  he  felt  himself 
so  inadequate.  At  the  St.  Louis  Conference,  however, 
in  St.  Louis,  March  14,  1871,  Bishop  Ames  formally  ap- 
pointed "  Rev.  I^eroy  M.  Vernon,  D.D.,  missionary  and 
superintendent  of  the  mission  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Italy."  On  June  28,  1871,  Dr. 
Vernon  sailed  for  his  missionary  destination,  having 
been  united  in  marriage  by  Bishop  Janes  a  few  days 
prior  to  Miss  Emily,  daughter  of  Stephen  Barker,  Esq., 
of  New  York  city. 

Leroy  M.  Vernon  was  born  near  Crawfordsville,  In- 
diana, Ayin]  23,  1838;  emigrated  with  his  parents  to 
fowa,   in    the    fall   of   1852,   they  settling  near  Mount 


Preparation,  1871,  1872.  277 

Pleasant  tlie  next  spring.  He  entered  the  Iowa  Wes- 
leyan  University  in  September,  1855;  was  converted  in 
February,  1856,  under  the  preaching  of  Dr.  Lucien  W. 
Berry.  In  June,  i860,  he  graduated  from  the  above- 
named  university,  then  under  the  presidency  of  Dr. 
Chirles  Elliott.  He  pursued  theological  studies  in  a 
theological  department  then  maintained  in  the  univer- 
sity, and  joined  the  Iowa  Conference  September,  i860, 
together  with  his  brother,  the  Rev.  S.  M.  Vernon,  D.  D., 
of  Pittsburgh  Conference.  In  November,  1S60,  he  mar- 
ried JNIiss  Fannie  B.,  daughter  of  Dr.  Charles  Elliott. 

In  the  spring  of  1862,  by  invitation  of  Simpson  Chapel, 
later  Trinity  Church,  he  was  transferred  to  the  then  Mis- 
souri and  Arkansas  Conference,  and  stationed  in  St, 
Louis.  In  the  summer  of  1863  he  was  chosen  Pro- 
fessor (ji  Greek  in  M'Kendree  College,  111.,  which  he 
declined. 

In  March,  1864,  he  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of 
Springfield  District,  and  pastor  at  Springfield,  south- 
western Missouri,  where,  amid  peril  of  bush-whackers 
and  marauding  bands  of  burglarious  cut-throats,  and 
amid  privation,  he  traveled  at  large,  reorganizing  and 
planting  the  Church  in  that  region,  desolated  by  war, 
and  doing,  in  his  estimation,  almost  the  bravest  and 
best  work  of  his  life,  leaving  eighteen  pastoral  charges 
at  the  close  of  his  three  years'  service.  Late  in  1866  he 
was  chosen  President  of  St.  Charles  College,  St.  Charles. 
Missouri. 

Dr.  Vernon  was  elected  a  delegate  from  his  Confer- 
ence to  the  General  Conference  of  1868,  held  in  Chicago, 
at  which  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Book  Com- 
mittee for  the  four  succeeding  years.  From  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  he  went  directly  to  Europe,  returning 
toward  the  close  of  the  year.     While  absent  in  Europe 


278  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

he  was  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Latin  Language  and  Lit- 
erature in  the  State  University  of  Missouri,  of  which  he 
had  been  a  curator  most  of  the  time  since  1S64.  Though 
an  inviting  position,  he  finally  declined  the  proffered 
professorship,  feeling  he  dare  not  leave  the  ministry  of 
the  word  for  such  a  post. 

In  March,  1869,  he  was  appointed  pastor  at  Sedalia, 
NTo.,  where  his  wife  died.  In  this  year  he  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.D.  from  the  Missouri  Stgte  Uni- 
versity. 

Dr.  Vernon  went  out  under  the  following  instructions 
from  the  Mission  Office  : — 

"  You  go  out  as  the  pioneer  missionary  of  our  Church 
to  Italy,  and  we  commend  you  to  God  and  the  word  of 
his  grace,  through  whose  blessing  and  agency  alone  you 
can  hope  for  success  in  this,  to  us,  new  and  untried  field 
of  missionary  labor. 

"  You  will  go  directly  to  the  city  of  Genoa,  and  make 
that  your  home,  and  the  center  of  your  observations  for 
the  present.  You  will  do  well  on  your  arrival  to  call 
at  once  on  the  Rev.  Dr.  Spencer,  an  able  minister  of 
our  own  Church,  and  the  consular  representative  of  our 
Government  in  that  city.  His  long  residence  in  that 
place  will  enable  him  to  render  you  valuable  service  in 
procuring  a  suitable  home  in  the  city,  and  in  otherwise 
promoting  your  welfare.  His  earnest  love  for  our 
Church,  and  his  discreet  and  wise  judgment,  will  make 
him  a  most  valuable  counselor  in  all  matters  pertaining 
to  our  missionary  work. 

"You  are  expected  to  canvass  very  carefully  before 
fixing  on  the  place  in  which  to  locate  permanently  the 
center  of  our  missionary  operations.  It  is  our  wish  and 
expectation  that  you  visit  several  of  the  most  promising 
places,  taking  care  not  to  encroach  on   fields  already 


Preparation,  1871,  1872.  279 

occupied  by  other  Protestant  missionaries,  especially 
those  occupied  by  the  Wesleyan  Church  ;  and,  after  ex- 
amining most  thoroughly  into  all  the  propitious  and  un- 
propitious  aspects  of  each  of  the  places  visited,  to  con  • 
elude  for  yourself  as  to  the  place  most  favorable  for  the 
center  of  our  missions  in  Italy.  Having  done  all  this, 
we  wish  you  then  to  report  to  this  office  the  names  of 
the  places  you  have  visited,  their  geographical  position, 
their  relation  to  the  population  of  the  country  and  to 
the  mission  stations  of  other  Churches,  and  then  the 
particular  reasons  which  led  you  to  decide  in  favor  of 
the  place  chosen. 

"The  Bishop  in  charge  of  your  mission,  and  the  other 
home  authorities,  will  then  determine  the  question  of 
location,  and  will  instruct  you  in  relation  to  your  move- 
ments thereafter." 

Our  missionary,  passing  through  London,  saw  there 
the  Wesleyan  missionary  authorities;  among  others  the 
late  Rev.  I.uke  H.  Wiseman,  D.D.,  with  whom  he  had 
friendly  counsels,  and  a  good  understanding  in  the  in- 
terests of  harmonious  and  fraternal  relations  between 
our  prospective  movements  and  their  own  work  in 
Italy.  They  arrived  in  Genoa,  their  appointed  destina- 
tion, early  in  August,  and,  kindly  aided  by  Rev.  Dr.  O. 
M.  Spencer,  resident  United  States  consul,  soon  pro- 
cured a  temporary  home. 

Thereupon  Dr.  Vernon  at  once  adopted  the  measures 
necessary  to  an  intelligent  and  judicious  inauguration  of 
his  work — to  the  planting  of  that  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tion so  long  hypothetically  projected  and  anticipated, 
and  now  attended  and  nurtured  by  the  prayers  and  con- 
quering faith  of  Christian  thousands,  the  prospective 
growth  of  v.'hich,  as  a  mighty,  aggressive,  soul-saving 
instrumentality — fitted  to  "spread  scriptural  holiness" 


28o         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

over  classic  Italy,  and  to  flood  the  Eternal  City  and  the 
Vatican  with  the  knowledge  of  God — filled  multitudes 
with  joyous  anticipations.  Dr.  Vernon  immediately  be- 
gan the  systematic  study  of  Italian,  of  which  he  knew 
nothing.  He  also  strove  assiduously  to  understand  the 
character,  the  condition,  the  thought,  the  aspirations  of 
the  people,  the  state  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  espe- 
cially the  strength,  condition,  and  positions  of  all  Prot- 
estant agencies  established  in  the  country,  besides  famil- 
iarizing liimself  with  the  country's  political  institutions, 
its  measure  of  religious  liberty,  and  its  actual  systems  ol 
national  education. 

After  a  cursory  view  of  the  field  he  wrote  :  "  I  feel 
that  I  am  called  to  a  very  difficult  task.  Manifestly 
much  needs  to  be  done.  Both  the  importance  of  the 
work  and  the  difficulty  of  its  performance  have  greatly 
grown  upon  me  since  my  arrival  on  the  field.  The 
most  formidable  real  difficulties,  I  apprehend,  are  but 
dimly,  if  at  all,  discerned  at  home,  while  some  of  the 
most  generally  supposed  obstructions  scarcely  exist  at 
all." 

In  pursuance  of  instructions  above  cited.  Dr.  Vernon, 
with  the  aim  of  being  able  to  form  an  intelligent  judg- 
ment as  to  a  proper  location  of  the  head-quarters  of 
our  mission,  early  visited  the  cities  of  Turin,  Milan, 
Parma,  Padua,  Verona,  Venice,  Ferrara,  Bologna,  Pisa, 
Leghorn,  Florence,  and  Rome.  On  March  lo,  1872,  he 
sent  to  the  Mission  Rooms  an  "  able  and  discriminat- 
ing report  "  touching  the  field,  and  all  those  fundamental 
questions  naturally  arising  at  the  inception  of  so  serious 
and  important  a  work.  Rome  was  recommended  as  the 
chief  seat  of  the  mission,  Florence  was  his  second  choice, 
Genoa  the  third. 

Rev.  Mr,  Piggott,  the  Wesleyan  superintendent,  on 


Preparation,  1871,  1872.  281 

first  meeting  Dr.  Vernon,  proposed  the  union  of  their 
forces  and  ours  in  one  missionary  movement,  to  consti- 
tute one  Italian  Methodism,  believing  that  such  united 
action  would  be  approved  and  sustained  by  the  Wes- 
leyan  Missionary  Society,  Dr.  Vernon  at  the  time  con- 
curred in  this  proposal,  and  reported  on  it  favorably  to 
the  Mission  Rooms.  But  from  the  difficulties  antici- 
pated in  reducing  the  plan  to  practice,  notwithstanding 
its  attractiveness  as  a  theory,  the  proposition  failed  of 
realization.  The  Board  steadily  advised  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  Mission,  upon  the  most  fraternal  relations 
with  all  others. 

From  the  first  there  were  decided  opponents  of  the 
Italian  project.  Nor  were  these  quiet  during  those 
months  of  examination  and  preparation.  Some  of  the 
Church  journals  avowed,  in  unmistakable  terms,  their 
opposition  to  the  undertaking.  This  active  opposition, 
the  unvarnished  facts  and  unconcealed  difficulties  of  the 
field,  as  set  forth  in  the  superintendent's  report,  and 
doubts,  perhaps,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  entering  this  field 
entertained  by  the  home  administration  itself,  delayed 
a  decision  of  those  preliminary  questions  the  solution 
of  which  was  absolutely  necessary  before  any  steps 
could  be  taken  toward  founding  the  mission. 

An  untoward  coincidence  was  the  appearance  before 
the  General  Conference  on  May  16,  1872,  of  Father  Ga- 
vazzi.  He,  in  his  own  inimitable  way,  portrayed  the 
progress  of  Italian  evangelization,  setting  forth  in  glow- 
ing terms  the  achievements  and  importance  of  the  native 
Churches,  and  especially  of  the  Free  Italian  Church, 
and  openly  conjured  our  Church  representatives  "never 
to  introduce  the  American  Methodist  Church  into  Italy." 
Being,  in  many  respects,  the  most  marked,  interesting, 

and  powerful  representative  of  the  Gospel  in  that  land, 
19 


282  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Signer  Gavazzi  seemed  to  embody  in  himself  Italian 
Protestantism,  and  in  its  name  to  solemnly  deprecate 
our  entrance  into  Italy, 

In  May,  1872,  a  new  corps  of  Corresponding  Secre- 
taries was  placed  in  office,  who,  in  view  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, deemed  it  wisest  to  consult  the  new  General 
Committee  before  advancing  further.  Weary,  heavy-go- 
ing months  of  crucial  suspense  to  Dr.  Vernon  followed 
the  General  Conference,  and  led  to  earnest  protests  on 
his  part  against  this  forced  inactivity.  At  length  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Missionary  Committee  came,  and 
with  it  came  decision  and  action.  Bishop  Haven,  given 
episcopal  supervision  of  the  Italian  mission,  sent,  on 
December  5,  1872,  the  following  transatlantic  telegram: 
"Head-quarters,  Bologna:  Spencer  coming:  Rent  im- 
mediately." Three  hours  later,  by  the  first  train.  Dr. 
Vernon  left  Genoa,  reaching  Bologna  at  midnight, 
whence,  the  same  hour,  he  reported  to  the  Mission 
Rooms. 

3.  Planting,  1873. 

The  base  of  operations  being  established,  active  work 
at  once  vigorously  began.  Most  serious  difficulties  be- 
set the  procuring  of  places  for  public  services,  especially 
places  well  adapted  to  our  uses.  The  priests  and  their 
bigoted  followers  will  lease,  and  wink  at  the  leasing,  of 
halls  for  the  vilest  uses,  but  for  Protestant  services  never. 
And  those  whose  opinions  and  prejudices  would  not 
prevent  their  renting  to  us  were  generally  restrained 
through  fear  of  Romanist  condemnation,  of  a  sullen 
persecution,  and  of  warfare  on  their  business  and  social 
interests.  After  many  weeks  of  daily  search  a  tolerably 
favorable  place  was  engaged,  and  the  agreement  bound 
by  a  small  payment.  Before  writings  could  be  drawn 
the  parisli  priest  scented  this  encroachment  of  heresy, 


Planting,  1873.  283 

and  defeated  our  plans.  Only  after  moie  than  four 
months  of  diligent  search,  in  person  and  by  agents,  did 
Dr.  Vernon  obtain  possession  of  a  suitable  hall  for  pub- 
lic worship  in  Bologna,  the  head-quarters  of  the  mission; 
a  few  days  later  a  place  was  also  obtained  in  Modena. 

During  this  period  of  search  our  superintendent  prov- 
identially came  to  know  two  good  Christian  Italians, 
not  then  actually  preaching,  but  ready  and  anxious  to 
evangelize  their  countrymen.  These  were  Rev.  J.  C. 
Mill,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  Signor  A. 
Guigou,  both  of  whom  had  a  good  measure  of  experi- 
ence in  missionary  work.  After  numerous  interviews, 
and  faithful  and  particularized  conversations  upon  the 
character  and  spirit  of  our  Church  and  the  aims  of  our 
mission,  these  brethren,  to  their  own  great  satisfaction, 
were  received  into  our  Church  and  work,  with  strong 
hopes  of  their  usefulness. 

On  the  i6th  of  June,  1873,  public  services  in  the 
Italian  mission  were  begun  with  the  opening  of  a  hall 
in  Modena.  Signor  Guigou  preached  a  plain  sermon 
before  some  sixty  hearers,  after  which  Dr.  Vernon  de- 
livered a  brief  discourse  in  Italian,  explaining  the  char- 
acter and  aims  of  our  mission.  On  the  following  Sun- 
day, June  22,  the  church  in  Bologna  was  inaugurated 
in  the  presence  of  fifty  or  sixty  persons.  Rev,  J.  C.  Mill 
and  the  superintendent  conducting  the  services.  By 
the  close  of  June  work  had  also  been  commenced  in 
Forli  and  in  Ravenna,  interesting  towns  in  the  vicinity 
of  Bologna.  Forli  gave  a  ready,  curious  hearing  to  the 
word  for  some  time ;  and,  finally,  when  the  multitude 
ceased,  a  goodly  number,  truly  awakened,  continued, 
and  have  been  faithful  until  this  present  Ravenna  was 
so  subject  to  Romanist  bonds  that  very  few  cared  or 
dared  to  frequent  our  services. 


284  Methodist  Episcopai,  Missions. 

Rev.  F.  A.  Spencer,  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  several 
years  a  missionary  in  India,  was  sent  to  Dr.  Vernon's 
assistance,  and  arrived  in  Bologna  early  in  January, 
1873.  He  had  a  special  predilection  for  teaching,  and 
a  decided  faith  in  schools  as  effective  missionary  in- 
strumentalities. To  meet  his  preferences  a  school  was 
begun  in  Bologna  late  in  September,  under  Mr.  Spencer's 
direction.  The  opening  was  flush  and  hopeful.  The 
rush  of  scholars,  however,  as  often  happens,  soon  mate- 
rially diminished;  but  the  school  went  forward  with  fair 
numbers  and  usefulness.  The  General  Mission  Com- 
mittee, after  considering  the  subject,  made  no  appro- 
priation for  the  school's  support,  and  it  was,  thereupon, 
closed.  As  there  was  little  prospect  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  educational  work  in  the  near  future,  Mr. 
Spencer  was  recalled,  and  returned  to  the  United  States 
in  the  summer  of  1874. 

During  the  month  of  October  an  effort  was  begun  to 
evangelize  the  town  of  Bagnacavallo  by  Signor  B.  Go- 
dino;  Pescara  and  Chieti,  also,  were  entered  by  Signor 
B.  Malan,  and  Rimini  by  Signor  Charbonnier.  About 
the  same  time  B.  Dalmas  and  G.  Tourn  were  engaged 
as  colporteurs,  who,  with  the  word  of  life  in  hand,  trav- 
ersed the  Romagna  as  avant-couriers,  as  minor  John  the 
Baptists,  heralding  the  coming  kingdom.  Each  and  all 
found  some  willing  to  hear  and  receive  the  truth,  but 
they  encountered,  also,  many  objectors,  mucli  fierce  and 
fanatical  opposition,  and  some  outcroppings  of  persecut- 
ing violence.  Not  unfrequently  Romanists,  who  had  re- 
ceived the  Bible,  under  penalty  of  being  denied  absolu- 
tion were  required  by  the  priests  to  surrender  or  burn  it. 

During  the  autumn  of  this  year  Dr.  Vernon  made  the 
acquaintance,  and  our  cause  the  acquisition,  of  Signor 
Teofilo   Gay,  who   had   graduated   from   the  Genevan 


Planting,  1873.  285 

Theological  School  {TOratoire)  the  last  year  of  Dr. 
Merle  d'Aubigne's  presidency.  A  young  man  of  pop- 
ular talents,  great  activity,  and  high  culture,  after  preach- 
ing a  year  at  The  Hague,  he  had  served  another  year  as 
assistant  pastor  in  a  French  Church  in  London,  finding 
there,  also,  a  cultured  and  devoted  Christian  wife. 

Though  his  father,  grandfather,  and  great-gran dfathei 
had  all  been  ministers  in  the  venerable  Waldensian 
Church,  his  pious  mother  had  been  awakened  and  con- 
verted under  the  preaching  of  the  saintly  Charles  Cook, 
of  France;  and  when  she  saw  her  eldest  son,  so  well  pre- 
pared for  an  effective  ministry,  providentially  enter  our 
Church,  she  said,  "This  is  the  Lord's  doing." 

He  entered  Rome  as  the  representative  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  November  2,  1873.  The  su- 
perintendent soon  joined  him,  to  aid  in  procuring  and 
fitting  up  a  place  of  worship.  After  ten  days  of  persist- 
ent search  Dr.  Vernon  rented  a  small  hall  near  the  old 
Roman  Forum,  and  within  ear-shot  of  the  Mamertine 
Prison,  where,  probably,  St.  Paul  was  incarcerated.  Events 
soon  again  verified,  amid  these  venerable  historic  pre- 
cincts, that  "  the  word  of  God  is  not  bound."  On  Sun- 
day, December  18,  Mr.  Gay  began  to  unfold  the  message 
of  life  in  the  Eternal  City,  the  hall  being  entirely  filled. 

About  the  same  time  a  successful  and  interesting 
work  among  the  Italian  soldiers  in  Rome  providentially 
came  into  the  hands  of  the  superintendent.  This  move- 
ment had  been  begun  on  his  own  responsibility  by  a 
young  Italian  just  after  being  discharged  from  military 
service.  It  was  maintained  at  his  personal  expense,  and 
through  the  contributions  of  passing  friends.  But  these 
resources  were  insufficient,  and  the  existence  of  the 
work  became  precarious.  Perceiving  this  state  of  the 
case,  the  work  was  taken  up  by  Dr.  Vernon,  and  affili- 


286  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

a  ted  with  our  cause.  It  was  soon  greatly  re-enforced 
and  enlarged,  the  now-lamented  Ottonelli  being  added 
to  the  working  force. 

With  the  close  of  1873  Methodism  planted  a  gospel 
standard,  also,  in  beautiful  Florence — "  the  City  of 
Klowers."  The  superintendent,  having  rented  a  sub- 
urban hall,  Rev.  A.  Arrighi,  who  had  been  educated, 
and  had  long  lived,  in  America,  and  had  come  to 
Italy  on  his  own  motion,  with  the  hope  of  being  em- 
ployed in  our  mission,  was  put  in  charge,  and  inaugu- 
rated public  services.  The  attendance  was  fair  and  the 
indications  favorable — all  too  favorable  for  the  parish 
priest.  He,  hoping  to  do  by  violence  what  he  had 
failed  to  effect  by  remonstrance,  fanatical  prophecies, 
and  excommunications,  suborned  "  certain  lewd  fellows 
of  the  baser  sort "  to  mob  the  preacher  and  audience. 
This  brutal  scheme  was  effected  "on  time,"  by  breaking 
in  doors,  extinguishing  lights,  assaulting  the  sexton,  and 
an  endeavor  to  harm  Mr.  Arrighi.  The  tumult  and 
alarm  were  great,  the  actual  damages  not  very  serious ; 
the  day  following  six  of  the  rioters  were  lodged  in  jail. 
As  is  often  the  case,  the  wrath  of  man  was  turned  to 
the  praise  of  God,  and  the  cause  went  forward  with 
increasing  prosperity. 

4.  Progress,  1874-1878. 

Early  in  1874  Signer  B.  Malan  transferred  his  labors 
fiom  Piscara  and  Chieti  to  Brescello,  a  small  town  on 
the  Po,  where  he  found  fewer  difficulties  and  the  people 
more  accessible.  Signer  B.  Godino  was,  also,  sent  to 
Faenza,  near  Forli,  though  continuing  to  visit  occasion- 
ally his  former  field.  The  most  important  advance  of 
this  year,  however,  was  the  occupancy  of  Milan  by  Rev. 
T.  C.  Mill.     It  was  well  understood  that  this  brilliant 


Planting,  1873.  287 

capital  of  Lombardy  was  most  difficult  ground,  but  il 
was  deemed  a  position  of  too  much  importance  in  every 
way  to  be  neglected.  At  first  two  places  of  worship 
were  taken  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  five  or  six 
services  were  held  each  week,  and  the  work  was  pressed 
with  vigor.  In  the  mean  time  Bologna  had  been  sup- 
plied by  Signor  Enrico  Borelli,  a  man  of  years,  experi- 
ence, and  of  no  mean  abilities,  who,  after  having  given 
good  proof  of  himself,  had  been  received  into  the  Church 
and  work. 

A  most  noteworthy  event,  and  one  destined  to  have  an 
important  influence  on  Methodism  and  Protestantism  in 
Italy,  was  the  conversion,  in  July,  1874,  of  Professor 
Alceste  Lanna,  D.  Ph.,  D.D.,  in  Rome,  during  a  visit  of 
the  superintendent  to  that  city.  Dr.  Lanna  was  then  a 
professor  in  the  Appolinare,  the  most  popular  Catholic 
college  in  Rome,  and  but  two  years  prior,  in  the  face 
of  strong  remonstrances,  had  resigned  his  chair  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Philosophy  in  the  Vatican  Seminary.  He  had 
long  been  agitated  by  religious  inquiry,  his  researches 
had  taken  a  broad  range,  and,  after  the  opening  of 
Rome,  he  had  obtained  some  knowledge  of  the  Gospel 
and  its  progress  in  the  Eternal  City.  Any  and  every 
approach  to  a  Protestant  minister  was  at  his  peril.  An 
open  profession  of  the  Protestant  faith  would  have  cost 
him  literally  the  instant  "  loss  of  all  things  " — life-long 
associates,  friends,  position,  bread,  and  abode,  and  what- 
ever else  ministered  to  life. 

Presented  to  Dr.  Vernon  and  Mr,  Gay  by  a  mutual 
friend,  he  frankly  recounted  his  struggles,  avowed  his 
faith,  his  profound  conviction,  and,  recognizing  him- 
self as  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
the  movings  of  Providence,  he  pleaded  with  tears  for 
counsel,  direction,  and   deliverance,   that  he  might  be 


288  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

« 

in  some  way  rescued  from  the  all-involving  sea  madly 
surging  about  him.  Repeated  interviews  and  extend- 
ed conversations,  which  went  searchingly  over  all  vital 
points  in  Christian  life,  faith,  and  experience,  and  in 
ministerial  work,  only  tended  to  persuade  Dr.  Vernon 
more  fully  of  the  professor's  sincerity  and  gifts. 

The  first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  held  on 
September  loth,  at  Bologna,  under  the  presidency  of 
Bishop  Harris,  with  Rev.  Teofilo  Gay  as  secretary,  and 
it  was  an  occasion  of  peculiar  interest.  The  bearing, 
services,  and  counsels  of  the  Bishop  gave  new  strength 
and  impulse  to  the  mission.  Nine  of  the  preachers  had 
been  admitted  on  trial  in  the  Germany  and  Switzerland 
Conference,  at  Schaffhausen,  July  2,  of  whom  E.  Bo- 
relli  and  L.  Capellini,  duly  elected  there  to  deacons' 
and  elders'  orders  under  the  missionary  rule,  were  or- 
dained at  Bologna.  At  the  same  time  Bishop  Harris, 
after  personal  observation  of  the  field,  transferred  the 
head-quarters  of  the  mission  from  Bologna  to  Rome, 
and  instructed  the  superintendent  to  remove  thither  at 
his  earliest  convenience.  Dr.  Vernon  was  accordingly 
established  in  Rome  by  October  i,  1874. 

In  January,  1875,  occurred  in  Milan  the  auspicious 
event  of  the  conversion  and  introduction  into  the  Church 
of  Prof.  E.  Caporali,  LL.  D.,  son  of  a  Viennese  baroness. 
He  was  a  wide-ranging,  industrious  student,  of  the  Ger- 
man type,  and  already  favorably  known  as  an  editor  and 
author.  Dr.  Caporali  had  in  recent  years  undertaken 
the  task  of  writing  an  elaborate  Encyclopaedia  of  Geog- 
raphy, and  all  its  cognate  sciences,  the  work  to  number 
about  thirty  volumes,  of  five  hundred  pages  each.  One 
volume,  already  published,  had  been  highly  commended 
by  the  best  literary  and  scientific  authorities  in  Italy, 
France,  Germany,  and   England.     Two  other  volumes 


Progress,  1 874-1 878.  289 

were  ready  for  the  press,  when,  passing  Via  Pas(iuirolc 
one  evening,  his  attention  was  attracted  by  the  words 
Conferenze  jEvangeliche,  seen  through  the  open  door  on 
the  wall  of  a  well-lighted  anteroom.  He  entered  and 
heara  the  services  throughout.  The  arrows  of  truth 
found  their  mark.  The  Spirit  arrested  and  finally  sub- 
dued him.  He  soon  openly  espoused  the  Gospel,  and 
united  with  the  Church.  Speedily  thereafter  he  aban- 
doned his  well-begun  literary  work,  and  the  open  high- 
way to  honorable  distinction,  and  consecrated  himself 
to  the  service  of  Christ ;  "  Choosing  rather  to  suffer 
affliction  with  the  people  of  God." 

About  April  i,  1875,  a  station  was  opened  in  the  beauti- 
ful and  famous  city  of  Perugia,  midway  between  Florence 
and  Rome.  From  the  first  we  have  had  a  favorable  hear- 
ing, and  many  have  joyfully  embraced  the  word  of  life. 

In  May,  Rev.  Vincenzo  Ravi,  of  Rome,  united  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  bringing  with  him  his 
entire  congregation  of  about  forty  members.  Converted 
several  years  before  by  simply  reading  the  Gospels,  he 
abandoned  Catholicism  and  the  presidency  of  a  col 
lege  in  Sicily,  and  embarking  for  Italy  "went  out,  not 
knowing  whither  he  went."  He  fell  in  with  Protestants 
at  Naples,  and,  later,  at  Florence,  where  he  pursued  a 
regular  course  of  theology,  and  afterward  studied  a 
year  in  Scotland,  There  God  gave  him  to  wife  a  cult- 
ured Scotch  lady,  and,  as  friends,  numerous  zealous 
Christians  interested  in  Italy.  These  last  enabled  him, 
to  return  to  his  country,  to  estaljlish  and  conduct  an 
independent  work  in  Rome,  until  he  and  his  willing  peo- 
ple united  with  our  cause.  His  little  flock  were  well- 
grounded  in  the  truth.  Besides  being  an  ardent,  expe- 
rienced Christian,  and  a  watchful  and  industrious  pastor, 
he  is  also  an  able  and  really  eloquent  preacher. 


290  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

On  the  30th  of  June,  1S75,  the  preachers  of  the  Ital- 
ian mission  convened  in  Milan,  in  their  second  Annual 
Meeting,  under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  M.  Simpson. 
It  was  a  delightful  and  memorable  occasion.  Dr.  Ver- 
non says:  "The  Bishop's  counsels  and  services  could 
scarcely  have  been  more  happy.  His  words  were  heard 
with  the  profoundest  respect  and  attention."  Dr.  Al- 
ceste  Lanna  was,  on  this  occasion,  ordained  deacon 
and  elder. 

Late  in  1874  the  Missionary  Society  had  authorized 
Dr.  Vernon  to  buy  a  small  Catholic  church  in  Rome, 
then  believed  to  be  obtainable.  Just  as  this  was  seen 
to  be  impossible,  unexpectedly  a  very  eligible  site  for  a 
church  was  advertised  for  sale  at  public  auction.  Dr. 
Vernon  felt  he  dare  not  lose  this  providential  and  very 
rare  occasion,  and,  though  unauthorized,  five  days  later, 
April  5,  bid  in  the  property.  He  fully  explained  the 
exceptional  circumstances,  the  favorable  conditions  of 
purchase,  and  the  admirable  location,  and  the  matter 
was  heartily  approved  by  the  Mission  Board. 

The  Missionary  Society,  with  prompt,  characteristic 
enterprise,  appropriated  tlie  funds  necessary  for  erecting 
a  small  church  and  mission  residence.  The  work  began 
on  July  15,  and  was  pressed  with  a  rapidity  unexam- 
pled in  Italy.  Every  stone  was  laid  under  the  gaze  of 
resentful,  curious,  inquiring,  wondering,  or  deeply  inter- 
ested observers.  The  clerical  "  Osservaiore  Ro7iiano " 
wailed  out  its  anguish  that  the  monks  should  have  been 
chased  away  from  their  monastery,  and  their  garden  giv- 
en up  for  the  erection  of  a  Protestant  church  !  Priests, 
monks  and  their  satellites  were  annoying  to  the  utmost. 
The  daily  papers  welcomed,  encouraged,  and  praised 
the  enterprise.  The  municipal  architect,  who,  accord- 
ing to  Italian  usage,  examined  and  approved  the  plans. 


Progress,  1874- 1878.  291 

and  watched  over  the  rising  walls,  was  none  other  than 
Colonel  Calandrelli,  one  of  the  Triumvirs  of  the  Roman 
Republic  in  1S49.  He  successfully  confronted  the  cler- 
ical influence  in  the  municipal  council,  which,  for  one 
pretext  or  another,  would  gladly  have  prevented  our 
building. 

The  materials  forming  the  roof  of  our  church  had 
been  seasoning  in  Rome  for  ninety  years,  and  have  a 
history  worth  recounting.  When  the  French  came  to 
Rome  to  maintain  the  tottering  temporal  power,  those 
timbers  were  bought  by  papal  funds  for  roofing  their 
stables.  The  Franco-Prussian  war  providentially  recall- 
ing the  French  troops,  the  timbers  were  sold  to  Signor 
Rossolini,  in  whose  magazines  they  waited,  finally  to  be 
lifted  upon  those  Methodist  walls,  to  shelter  the  first 
church  erected  in  Rome  for  native  Protestants.  What 
strange  providences  were  budding  and  leafing,  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  in  the  branches  of  those  stately  trunks 
in  the  fragrant  solitudes  of  their  far-away  primeval  for- 
ests, and  by  what  strange  instrumentalities  those  hewn 
beams  were  wheeled  thither  to  stand  in  protecting 
strength  over  the  altar  of  God!  It  is  not  the  first  time 
the  timbers  of  a  stable  and  the  firstlings  of  the  Gospel 
have  been  in  near  and  helpful  proximity.  Once  again, 
after  many  centuries,  Bethlehem  and  Rome  have  some- 
thing in  common. 

Immemorial  usage  in  Rome,  at  the  roofing  of  a  new 
building,  requires  the  proprietor,  within  its  walls,  to 
feast  the  workmen.  Thus,  appositely,  on  the  Festa  of 
November  i,  while  Catholic  multitudes  were  visitinej 
cemeteries,  and  praying  for  the  dead,  our  missionaries 
rejoiced  in  a  new  and  true  house  of  prayer  for  the  liv- 
ing, as,  with  the  "  stars  and  stripes  "  and  two  Italian  flags 
floating  from  the  front,  thirty  workmen  gathered  within 


292  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ihe  church  about  a  frugal,  but  cheerful,  repast.  Among 
lium  were  several  musicians,  and  the  flute,  the  violin, 
and  the  guitar  mingled  their  cheerful  strains  with  the 
good  cheer  of  the  feasters.  At  the  close  Rev.  Dr.  Lanna 
addressed  the  audience. 

The  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  Via 
Poli,  Rome,  finally  stood  complete,  and  Dr.  Vernon 
duly  dedicated  it  to  Almighty  God  on  Christmas  Day, 
1875,  according  to  the  ritual  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Able  sermons  were  preached  on  the  occasion 
by  Rev.  Teofilo  Gay,  Rev.  Vincenzo  Ravi,  and  Rev.  Dr. 
Lanna,  of  our  mission ;  brief  discourses  were  delivered 
by  representatives  of  all  the  Italian  evangelical  Churches, 
and  Dr.  Vernon  held  an  English  service,  in  which  visit- 
ing ministers  of  various  American  Churches  took  part. 
The  occasion  was  an  event  of  marked  and  peculiar  in- 
terest, and  drew  together  large  audiences,  enlisted  the 
attention  of  all  the  city  papers,  and  of  the  resident  re- 
porters for  foreign  journals,  besides  becoming  the  theme 
of  sundry  telegrams  to  London  and  other  important 
centers. 

As  our  congregation,  near  the  Roman  Forum,  and 
that  of  Signor  Ravi,  were  united,  and  together  trans- 
ferred to  the  new  church,  Signor  Ravi  was  sent  to  Na- 
ples in  the  early  autumn.  He  began  preaching  and 
collecting  a  few  people  together  in  his  own  residence 
while  seeking  a  place  of  public  worship,  and  soon  had 
about  him  a  little  class  of  adherents.  In  the  beginning 
of  1876  a  small  theater  was  rented,  and,  after  the  neces- 
sary adaptations,  the  minstrels  were  turned  out  and  the 
minister  brought  in,  the  stage  arose  into  a  gospel  altar 
and  pulpit,  and  the  pit  of  pleasure  became  God's  tem- 
ple and  the  saints*  sanctuary. 

Early  in  1876,  under  Ravi's  ministry,  Eduardo  Stasio, 


St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Rome. 


Progress,  1 874-1 878.  295 

d  young  Neapolitan  lawyer  of  good  position  and  prom- 
ise, was  brought  into  the  Church.  He  not  only  showed 
marked  qualities  and  dispositions  as  a  private  Christian, 
but  displayed  a  lively  zeal  and  interest  in  behalf  of  our 
evangelistic  work  and  the  general  cause  of  Christ.  Be- 
fore the  year's  close,  by  his  own  convictions  and  the 
persuasion  of  the  brethren,  he  was  marked  and  urged 
for  the  ministry.  About  the  same  time  Crisanzio  Bam- 
bini, identified  with  the  Church  at  Perugia,  was  encour- 
aged in  the  promptings  of  his  own  heart,  and  put  in 
preparation  for  service  in  the  Gospel.  In  July  of  the 
same  year  Daniele  Gay,  having  just  finished  his  theo- 
logical course  at  Florence,  applied  to  Dr.  Vernon  for 
admission  into  our  working  force.  A  young  man  of 
good  education,  classical  as  well  as  theological,  of  fair 
gifts,  and  of  ardent  piety,  he  was  readily  received,  and 
he  and  Signor  Bambini  were  sent  to  open  a  station  at 
Terni.  This  city  is  the  seat  of  several  large  govern- 
ment manufactories,  is  full  of  thrift  and  promise,  a 
railroad  center  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  plain,  and 
stands  at  the  foot  of  the  loftiest  and  loveliest  cascade 
in  Europe. 

Scarcely  had  our  work  begun  when  a  migratory  monk 
was  called  to  demolish  it  by  a  course  of  sermons,  vul- 
gar pamphlets,  and  plenary  curses.  Mr.  Gay  answered 
sermons  with  sermons,  and  pamphlets  with  pamphlets. 
The  work  went  on,  and  converts  were  added  to  the 
Church.  Threatened  and  impending  violence  was 
stayed,  disconcerted,  and  defeated  by  the  uprising  and 
resolute  bearing  of  the  liberals.  The  result  was  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  nuns  as  teachers  from  the  municipal 
schools,  and  the  curtailment  of  Romanist  influence  in  the 
city.  Through  Mr.  Bambini  an  encouraging  movement 
has  been  initiated,  also,  at  Narni,  near  by,  and  the  aj)- 


296         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

pointment  identified  with  Terni.  A  small  society  of 
believers  there,  also,  bear  testimony  to  the  power  of  the 
Gospel. 

During  the  summer  of  1876  Rev.  Francesco  Cardin, 
voluntarily  withdrew  from  theWesleyan  Mission  after  sev 
eral  years  of  successful  labor,  and  sought  admission  anionj , 
our  workers.  After  all  due  counsel  with  his  late  super- 
intendent, he  was  received.  He  was  sent  in  August  to 
plant  our  standard  in  Venice,  "  the  Queen  of  the  Adri- 
atic," a  city  of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  inhab- 
itants. It  made  in  the  sixteenth  century  a  most  brave 
struggle  for  the  Reformation,  and  yielded  in  the  effort 
to  intolerant  hate  and  flames  some  illustrious  martyrs 
never  to  be  forgotten.  It  has  a  long  and  most  brilliant 
history  as  a  republic.  It  is  a  post-Eden  paradise,  spoiled 
by  Satan  and  time,  yet  a  paradise;  a  miracle  of  art  set 
in  a  prodigy  of  nature;  and  for  all  these  reasons  pos- 
sessing a  peculiar  fascination  for  our  laborers.  The 
work  was  initiated  amid  difficulties,  but  there  was  usu- 
ally a  very  fair  hearing,  and  a  very  respectable  and  com- 
forting little  society  established,  which  gave  promise  of 
greater  tilings. 

In  February,  1877,  our  work  and  worker  among  the 
Italian  soldiers  in  Rome,  at  Dr.  Vernon's  own  instance, 
were  turned  over  to  our  Wesleyan  brethren.  While  it 
was  a  successful  and  interesting  work,  it  was,  also,  very 
expensive,  added  comparatively  few  members  to  oui 
regular  citizen  cause,  to  our  established  and  growing 
stations,  scarcely  more  than  it  will  while  conducted  by 
others,  and  from  its  nature  could  never  become  itself  a 
stable  station  or  Church,  such  as  would  mature,  develop, 
and  consolidate  into  an  organized  congregation  and  a 
local  Christian  power  in  society.  In  it  we  were  doing  a 
good  work,  indeed,  but  for  all  Churches  .  much  for  them. 


Frogtc'ss,  1 87 4- 1 878.  297 

comparatively  little  for  our  own.  It  became  evident  tliat 
our  forces  might  be  used  more  directly  to  our  own 
Church's  advantage,  and  while  this  work  was  conducted 
by  others,  we  might  receive  the  advantage  from  it  which 
others  shared  while  it  was  sustained  by  us.  Our  Wes- 
leyan  brethren  had  in  their  large  building  precisely  the 
rooms  necessary  for  tlie  work,  little  available  for  other 
uses,  and  could  thus  conduct  the  work  for  about  half 
what  it  had  cost  us.  Other  less  general  but  more  influ- 
ential reasons  decided  that  it  should  be  left  to  other 
hands.  The  large  numbers  of  that  Church  dropping 
out,  make  a  noticeable  change  in  the  statistics  of  the 
mission.  In  justice  to  the  mission  two  hundred  might 
be  added  to  the  membership  now  reported  for  persons 
converted  in  that  congregation  while  it  was  ours,  who, 
at  their  homes,  scattered  through  the  kingdom,  grate- 
fully remembered  us  as  the  bearers  to  them  of  light  and 
truth,  and  reckoned  themselves  of  us.  Through  this 
change,  unanimously  approved  by  our  ministers,  the 
mission  unquestionably  gained. 

With  a  part  of  the  means  formerly  devoted  to  the 
"  Military  Church  "  a  flourishing  station  was  planted 
in  the  beautiful  Tuscan  town  of  Arezzo,  near  Florence. 
Fortunately,  a  very  favorable  place  of  Avorship  was  ob- 
tained at  the  beg'nning,  and  on  a  long  lease  ;  otherwise 
the  movement  might  have  been  much  crippled  by  the 
priestly  intrigues  and  fanatical  bigotry  encountered. 
Rarely  has  the  word  of  life's  entrance  aroused  such 
stupid  replies,  ridiculous  accusations,  and  puerile  threats, 
or  created  so  great  a  heat  and  trembling  among  the 
dry  bones  of  superstition.  Immediately  opposite  our 
church  door,  across  a  street  thirty  feet  wide,  was  painted 
on  the  house-wall  a  gaudy,  crowned  Madonna.  An 
oil-lamp,  swung  before  it,  nightly  trimmed  and  lighted 
20 


298  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

by  the  bigoted  pro])rietor  in  idolatrous  homage  to  that 
bizarre  image — in  fact,  but  a  very  imperfect  "  likeness 
of  any  thing  in  heaven  above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath, 
or  in  the  water  under  the  earth."  Within  the  former 
beamed  the  light  of  life  ;  without,  flamed  the  pagan  shrine ; 
between  was  but  a  narrow  way,  and  passers-by  were  con- 
jured to  "choose  this  day  whom  "  they  would  serve. 

Our  preacher  there.  Baron  Gattuso,  brought  to  Christ 
under  our  ministry  at  Rome,  was  a  very  devoted,  choice, 
and  able  man.  Though  yet  young,  he  was  several  years 
an  ofificer  under  Garibaldi,  and  followed  that  poi)ular 
hero  through  many  of  his  later  perilous  campaigns. 
After  courageous  and  successful  service  for  his  country's 
unity  and  political  redemi)tion,  he  now  consecrated  him- 
self to  its  spiritual  resurrection  and  culture. 

An  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Italian  mission  was  held 
under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  E.  G.  Andrews,  March 
II,  1877,  in  Rome,  and  was  an  occasion  of  great  interest 
and  profit.  It  had  been  confidently  expected  by  the 
preachers  that  an  Italian  Annual  Conference  would  have 
been  organized  then  and  there,  but  on  carefully  exam- 
ining the  empowering  act  of  the  General  Conference  of 
1876,  it  was  seen  that  "authority  is  granted  to  the  Bish- 
ops to  organize  "  the  Conference,  and  not  to  the  Bishop 
presiding,  nor  yet  to  the  preachers  with  his  concurrence. 
As  Bishop  Andrews  had  not  conferred  with  the  Board 
of  Bishops  on  the  subject,  he  held  that  he  was  not  com- 
petent to  organize  a  conference  in  Italy.  This  result 
was  certainly  not  a  little  disappointing  and  depressing 
to  the  mission.  The  Annual  Meeting  was  organized 
under  the  rules  for  a  District  Conference,  and  limited 
itself  to  recommendations  principally,  which  would  oth- 
erwise have  been  made  by  the  superintendent.  The 
visit  of  Bishop  Andrews  was  greatly  appreciated. 


Present  State,  1878.  299 

Bishop  Bowman  presided  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in 
1878. 

The  General  Committee,  which  met  on  November  i, 
1878,  appropriated  5^5,000  to  make  a  payment  on  church 
property  to  be  purchased  in  tlie  city  of  Naples.  The 
cause  had  made  a  great  advance  in  the  acquisition  of 
much  better  places  of  worship  at  Florence,  Terni,  Ven- 
ice, and  Perugia. 

With  January,  187S,  began  the  publication,  on  the  mis- 
sion's own  responsibility,  of  a  very  neat  and  spirited 
monthly  paper  in  Italian,  called  "  La  Fiaccola  " — The 
Torch — under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  Vernon.  It  also  pub- 
lished the  Ritual  in  Italian  ;  "  The  Altar  and  the 
Throne,"  a  little  volume  by  Rev.  E.  Borelli,  of  the  mis- 
sion ;  besides  some  smaller  matters.  "The  Discipline," 
Binney's  "  Theological  Compend,"  and  Dr.  Whedon's 
"Commentary  on  Romans,"  had  been  translated,  and 
much  more  in  this  line  would  have  been  done  but  for 
the  lack  of  funds. 

5.  Annual  Conference  Organized. 

The  General  Conference,  May,  1880,  authorized  the 
erection  of  the  Italian  Mission  into  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence within  the  following  quadrennium.  Bishop  Merrill 
visited  the  mission  in  1881,  and  on  March  19  the  Italy 
Annual  Conference  was  organized  in  Rome,  just  ten 
years  and  five  days  after  the  original  appointment  of  the 
Superintendent  to  this  field. 

Eventful  history  was  made  rapidly  in  the  twenty  years 
preceding  this  date.  June  5,  186 1,  Cavour  died  with 
the  words  on  his  lips,  "  A  Free  Church  in  a  Free  State  !  " 
In  1862  Garibaldi  invaded  Sicily.  The  great  victory  of 
the  liberal  arms  in  September  28,  1862,  and  the  wound- 


300  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ing  of  Garibaldi  awakened  the  sympathy  of  Europe  for 
Italy,  wliich  led  Louis  Napoleon,  September,  1864,  to 
agree  to  the  withdrawal  of  French  troops,  provided 
Italy  respected  what  was  left  of  the  tera[)oral  power  of 
the  Pope.  But  when  the  victory  of  Sedan  overthrew 
the  French  empire  in  September,  1S70,  Jules  Favrc, 
at  the  head  of  the  new  Republic  of  France,  declared 
Louis  Napoleon's  convention  at  an  end,  and  Victor 
Emanuel  released  from  his  obligations  to  the  dead 
empire  on  the  ever-memorable  Twentieth  Day  of  Septem- 
ber, 1S70,  marched  into  Rome  and  made  it  his  capital, 
stripping  the  Pope  of  all  territorial  jurisdiction,  save  in 
the  premises  of  the  Vatican  and  other  i)roperty  assigned 
to  him  as  his  residence.  Thus  ended  the  struggle  for 
the  emancipation  of  Italy  ! 

It  will  be  recalled  that  it  was  a  year  before  this  event 
that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  first  considered 
with  any  seriousness  the  propriety  of  attempting  a  mis- 
sion in  Italy,  but  it  was  on  Septeinber  20,  1870,  the  day 
of  the  triumphal  entry  of  Victor  Emanuel  into  the  Eter- 
nal City,  the  day  hallowed  to  freedom  forever  in  Italy. 
It  was  on  the  same  day  that  the  General  Committee  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Missionary  Society  adopted  its 
first  resolution  to  enter  Italy.  Whether  the  coincidence 
can  be  explaitied  or  not,  September  20,  1870,  stands  out 
a  marked  date  in  the  history  of  Italy  and  of  the  Italy 
Mission  of  the  Church.  It  seems  a  thrilling  story  that 
American  Methodism  had  now  seen  half  tlie  history  of 
Free  Italy,  and  in  a  single  decade  had  reached  such  a 
stage  of  development  which  demanded  a  completed 
ecclesiastical  organization  under  an  Annual  Conference. 

It  is  little  wonder  that  r)ishop  Merrill  had  not  felt 
oversanguine    about    organizing    a  Conference    at   this 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  30 1 

time,  and  that  he  arrived  in  Italy  without  tlie  purpose  of 
effecting  such  organization.  The  church  was  still  small 
and  had  a  smaller  array  of  agencies  than  some  others,  yet 
it  had  vitality  and  hopefulness  in  large  measure.  The 
Bishop,  with  careful  prudence  and  patience,  investigated 
tlie  entire  affairs  of  the  mission,  and  with  unbiased  judg- 
ment weighed  the  reasons  for  and  objections  against 
erecting  an  Annual  Conference  at  that  time.  It  was  em- 
barrassing to  the  ministers  who  were  born  ;  reared, 
converted,  and  ordained  in  Italy,  to  hold  their  ministe- 
rial relations  with  a  foreign  body  of  which  they  could  know 
nothing  but  at  second  hand,  and  to  be  amenable  to  a 
foreign  court  of  whose  justice  they  might  be  assured, 
but  whose  familiarity  with  the  details,  which  must 
enter  into  evidence,  could  scarcely  be  such  as  to  put 
them  in  a  condition  to  form  a  judgment.  The  whole 
thing  was  positively  unintelligible  to  some  of  the  Italian 
ministers,  and  more  so  to  the  membership.  Coming  to 
a  deeper  impression  of  the  embarrassments  of  the  mission 
government  and  the  provisional  relations  of  the  Church 
in  Italy  to  the  entire  economy  of  Methodism,  and  hav- 
ing confidence  in  the  motives  of  the  ministerial  body, 
the  Bishop  yielded  to  their  earnest  and  unanimous  re- 
quest and  constituted  the  Italy  Conference,  which  in- 
cluded the  kingdom  of  Italy  and  those  parts  of  contigu- 
ous countries  where  the  Italian  language  was  spoken. 
The  geographical  distribution  of  the  mission  at  this  time 
and  the  names  of  the  ministers  under  appointment  are  of 
historic  interest.  They  were  as  follows  :  Dr.  Vernon, 
retiring  of  necessity  from  the  technicalofifice  of  Super- 
intendent, became  Presiding  Elder  of  the  one  and  only 
district  of  the  Conference,  in  which  new  relation  he  still 
exercised  the  functions  of  Superintendent  with  the  nee- 


302  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

essary  adjustments  implied  in  the  technical  disciplinary 
order  which  came  with  the  new  state  of  things.  The 
others  and  their  stations  were  as  follows  : 

Rome:  Via  Poli,  A.  Lanna;  Piazza  del  Esquilino,  D. 
Polsinelli  ;  Naples,  V.  Ravi ;  Tenii,  E.  Ageno  ;  Perugia 
and  Foligno,  G.  Gattuso  ;  Todi,  E.  Caporali ;  Arezzo, 
C.  Bambini ;  Florence,  Teofilo  Gay,  Em.  Borelli  ;  Pisa, 
E.  Stasio  ;  Bologna,  D.  Gay  ;  Modcna,  D.  Gay  ;  Turin, 
B.  Bracchetto  ;  Milan,  S.  Stazi.  Outside  the  Gate  Tici- 
nese,  G.  Cavalleris  ;  Venice,  E.  Borelli ;  Military  Church, 
G.  Benincasa;  Faenza,  Forli,  and  Dovadola,  A.  Guigou  ; 
Asti,  G.  Carboneri.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, which  first  began  work  in  Italy  in  1877  by  the  support 
of  two  Bible  women.  Sister  S.  Amalia  Conversi  and  Sister 
Carolina  Cardin,  now  supported  five,  stationed  as  fol- 
lows :  Rome,  A.  Conversi,  G.  Folchi  ;  Turin,  M.  Monta  ; 
Milan,  Camilla  Stazi;    Venice,  M.  Borelli. 

Thirteen  of  this  number  of  ministers  were  ordained 
and  six  were  unordained  preachers.  The  statistical  re- 
turns at  this  epochal  period  showed  :  Members,  708  ; 
probationers,  311  ;  average  attendance  on  Sabbath  wor- 
ship, 872;  Sunday-schools,  11  ;  scholars  in  same,  242  ; 
churches,  2  ;  value,  ^26,500  ;  halls  and  places  of  wor- 
ship, 15;  parsonages,  2;  value,  ^6,500;  collected  for 
self-support,  ^216. 

It  is  significant  of  the  obstructions  to  the  purchase  of 
property  possible  to  the  priesthood,  and  of  the  compara- 
tive lack  of  appropriations  to  carry  this  work  on  vigor- 
ously, that  these  statistics  show  but  two  church  edifices  ; 
one  located  at  Rome,  the  other  at  Florence.  There  was 
no  church  edifice  in  Naples,  where  there  were  95  com- 
municants struggling  for  existence  in  a  city  of  some  half 
million  inhabitants  drunken  with  superstition  and  mad 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  303 

on  .their  idols.  They  had  no  church  edifice  at  Terni, 
with  its  44  communicants  combating  the  fiercest  oppo- 
sition of  the  priests  of  the  valley  of  the  Nera.  Fifty- 
eight  Methodist  communicants  were  in  Perugia,  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Umbria  ;  52  Methodists  were 
in  the  ancient  and  important  city  of  Bologna,  in  the  fer- 
tile plane  at  the  base  of  the  Apennines,  having  a  uni- 
versity of  \vide  reputation  identified  with  the  ancient 
and  modern  history  of  Italy  ;  81  Methodists  were  in 
Milan,  the  commercial  capital  of  the  kingdom,  with  a 
dozen  more  forty  minutes  by  rail  distant  from  Bologna  at 
Modena  ;  Turin  counted  123  communicants  as  a  Metho- 
dist nucleus  amid  a  quarter  of  a  million  people  in 
this,  the  capital  of  Piedmont,  and  in  one  and  all  of  these 
places,  Methodism  had  become  what  it  was  without  a 
solitary  church  structure  which  its  members  could  call 
their  own  in  which  to  worship,  or  with  which  to  deepen 
the  impression  that  Methodism  had  come  to  stay.  Was 
ever  an  Annual  Conference  organized  before  with  but 
two  church  edifices .-' 

It  is  not  pertinent  to  ask  why  these  members  had  not 
themselves  contributed  to  the  erection  of  houses  of  wor- 
ship ;  for,  besides  the  insidious  priestly  plots  and  preju- 
dices which  obstructed  progress,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  bulk  of  the  Italians  exhibit  great  poverty. 
Though  mitigated  by  the  climate,  pauperism  among  the 
lower  classes  was  a  widespread  evil.  At  Venice,  according 
to  reliable  returns,  out  of  a  population  of  130,000,  36,000 
were  regular  recipients  of  official  charity.  In  Naples  the 
slums  were  vile  and  overcrowded.  Maize  bread,  with 
thin  soup  of  rice  and  pasta  with  a  few  vegetables,  con- 
stituted the  diet  of  large  populations  in  the  agricultural 
district  of  Milan  and  other  portions  of  the  north,  and 


3o4  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

black  bread  that  of  mucli  of  southern  Italy,  while  whealcn 
macaroni  and  acorns  were  staple  food  in  some  sec- 
tions. The  mission  had  reached  but  slightly  the  rural 
districts,  and  if  it  reached  the  masses  in  the  cities  it 
must  necessarily  have  to  do  with  this  impoverished  con- 
dition of  society.  It  numbered,  however,  among  its 
communicants  a  fair  proportion  of  well-to-do  folk,  some 
even  of  the  relatively  more  wealthy  and  better  educated, 
but  these  were  taxed  to  attempt  "self-support  "  under 
existing  conditions.  It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that 
in  its  initial  stage,  owing  to  prejudice  against  sacerdo- 
talism in  general,  and  the  greater  freedom  the  Italian  of 
the  period  might  feel  in  a  hall,  the  absence  of  formal 
church  structures  was  not  so  great  a  hindrance  as  it 
would  be  in  a  different  population,  or  at  a  later  period 
of  development,  and  even  important  personages  were 
sometimes  won  to  the  truth  under  what  in  England  or 
America  would  be  considered  forbidding  conditions. 
Still  it  is  little  wonder  that  the  Superintendent's  report 
should  say  :  "  The  preeminent  urgent  need  of  our  Church 
in  Italy  now  is  respectable  places  of  worship,  plain,  yet 
genteel  chapels,  having  at  least  the  general  aspect  and 
character  of  a  place  of  Christian  worship,"  and  that  with- 
out these,  amid  the  gorgeous  temples  of  Romanism,  the 
best  endeavors  of  himself  and  his  devoted  colleagues 
were  "  well  nigh   paralyzed.'" 

The  Conference  session  was  cheered  by  the  attend- 
ance of  some  prominent  visitors,  none  of  whom  were 
more  heartily  welcomed  than  the  senior  Secretary  of  the 
Missionary  Society,  Dr.  J.  M.  Reid.  His  services  and 
intercourse  with  the  people  in  his  visitation  of  the  sev- 
eral stations  were  heartily  appreciated.  He  accompanied 
Dr.    Vernon    to    Florence,    where    they    inspected    and 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  305 

bought  a  valuable  property  for  a  churcli  and  par- 
sonage. 

The  most  striking  event  of  the  year — indeed,  perhaps 
till  now  of  the  entire  history  of  this  mission — was  the 
conversion  of  Monsignor  Campello,  a  canon  of  the  Pa- 
triarchal Basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Rome.  He  had  oc- 
cupied that  distinguished  position  for  fourteen  years, 
after  passing  six  years  in  the  canonry  of  Santa  Maria 
Maggiore.  For  many  years  he  had  been  restless  and 
unhappy  because  of  serious  doubts  touching  various 
doctrines  and  institutions  of  Romanism.  More  than 
three  years  before  Count  Campello  and  Dr.  Vernon  be- 
came acquainted,  and  as  a  result  of  their  relations  there- 
after he  was  finally  led  to  reject  Roman  Catholicism. 
On  the  14th  of  September,  in  the  St.  Paul's  Church,  on 
Via  Poli,  Rome,  he  solemnly  abjured  popery  in  a  formal 
letter  there  read  and  addressed  to  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
priest  of  St.  Peter's,  Cardinal  Borromeo,  publicly  pro- 
fessed a  personal  faith  in  Christ  alone  for  salvation,  em- 
braced the  Protestant  religion,  and  entered  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  fact  was  like  the  explosion  of 
a  bombshell  on  the  threshold  of  the  Vatican,  and  pro- 
duced a  very  decided  impression  throughout  all  the 
kingdom  of  Italy  and  even  through  all  Europe.  He  had 
a  strong  inclination  to  journalistic  labors,  and  was  deeply 
imp'ressed  that  it  was  his  providential  duty  to  establish 
and  direct  a  daily  journal,  to  be  wielded  especially  in 
the  interests  of  the  Gospel  among  his  fellow-countrymen. 
Aside  from  the  Romanist  papers,  there  was  not  a  single 
daily  journal  in  Italy  that  was  not  either  rationalistic  or 
infidel  ;  not  one  to  do  justice  to  the  Protestant  or  evan- 
gelical principles  and  institutions. 

Campello  finally  established  an  independent  politico- 


3o6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

religious  paper,  called  "  11    Labaro,"  which  for  a  time 
was  a  daily,  then  a  weekly,  and  finally  a  bi-weekly. 

An  important  step  was  taken  this  year  in  services  held 
three  times  a  week  among  soldiers  of  the  Italian  army 
in  Venice,  a  work  planned  and  inaugurated  with  consent 
and  covert  cooperation  of  some  of  the  higher  officers. 

6.  Annual  Conferences,  1882-188S. 

The  second  session  of  the  Conference  convened  at 
Naples  April  13-22,  1882,  Bishop  Harris  presiding.  Six 
preachers  were  received  on  trial.  The  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  supported  a  Bible  woman  at 
each  of  the  following  places:  Naples,  Florence,  Perugia, 
Turin,  Faenza,  and  Forli.  A  new  and  centrally  located 
property  had  been  secured  for  the  mission  at  Bologna, 
and  a  new  church  erected  at  Florence,  which  was  dedi- 
cated by  Bishop  Harris  in  June  following.  Signor  Ravi 
had  been  removed  from  the  ministry  and  had  sought  re- 
dress by  instituting  civil  suit  against  Dr.  Vernon,  which 
however  resulted  in  the  complete  vindication  of  Dr. 
Vernon  by  the  formal  decree  of  the  Court.  The 
monthly  paper,  "  The  Torch,"  ("  La  Fiaccola,")  was  sus- 
pended during  1881  to  cooperate  in  an  undenomina- 
tional weekly  journal,  but  had  been  resumed,  and  was 
now,  as  it  was  before,  recognized  as  "  the  best  evangeli- 
cal paper  in  Italy." 

The  third  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  by 
Bishop  Foster  at  Turin  April  12-16,  1883.  Turin  was 
one  of  the  largest  and  thriftiest  of  the  stations,  and  was 
surrounded  by  smaller  stations  at  Asti  and  Marzano, 
and  Monfalito,  ten  miles  distant,  whence  was  reached 
Alba,  a  thrifty  town  of  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants.  In 
Northern  Italy  considerable  agitation  occurred,  specially 


Annual  Conferences,  1882-1885.  307 

at  Venice,  in  the  form  of  public  discussion  with  Ro- 
manists in  defense  of  Protestantism.  The  highest  local 
Roman  Catholic  dignitary,  the  Patriarch  of  Venice,  him- 
self entered  the  arena,  reinforced  by  others,  who,  by  in- 
flammatory pamphlets  and  other  means,  roused  the  rabble 
to  shout,  "  Death  to  the  Protestants  !  "  '*  Death  to  Bo- 
relli !  "  The  latter  expressed  their  hatred  of  the  pastor, 
Enrico  Borelli,  who  had  signally  sustained  Protestant 
apologetics  in  this  fierce  controversy  in  pulpit  and 
pamphlet  greatly  to  the  discomfiture  of  patriarch  and 
priest 

In  Milan  some  families  of  the  nobility  welcomed  the 
Methodist  preachers.  Central  Italy,  embracing  the  dis- 
trict of  the  Romagna,  which  had  long  been  bitter  in  its 
hostility  to  religion  of  all  forms,  and  was  strongly  com- 
munistic, was  a  difticult  section  in  which  to  make  prog- 
ress, yet  three  stations  were  sustained  here  with  en- 
couraging success.  The  new  church  edifice  at  Bologna 
was  in  process  of  completion  in  the  center  of  the  city. 
Florence  flourished  in  its  new  church  building,  and 
every  month  there  were  accessions  to  the  church  and  a 
large  number  came  under  the  influence  of  the  mission. 
The  superintendent  esteemed  its  congregation  the 
"  largest,  thriftiest,  and  most  progressive  "  in  Italy.  In 
Southern  Italy  there  was  some  advance.  Foggia  had 
accessions  to  its  list  of  probationers  in  the  face  of 
antagonism. 

In  Rome  six  regular  services  were  held  each  week. 
The  Press  had  issued  many  volumes,  such  as  a  philo- 
sophic history  of  Protestant  theology,  by  Dr.  Caporali, 
and  a  dictionary  of  heresies,  impostures,  and  idolatries 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  by  Rev.  Teofilo  Gay. 
Under  Dr.  Caporali's  editorship  a  new  Methodist  "  Quar- 


3o8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

terly  Review  "  had  been  begun  with  the  aid  of  the  Tract 
Society  at  New  York,  intended  to  discuss  grave  religious 
questions  of  national  and  personal  life  in  a  way  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  public  instructors  and  the  professional 
classes,  who  were  weary  of  Catholicism  or  drifting  into 
infidelity. 

An  incidental  service  rendered  by  some  members  of 
the  missionary  force  connected  with  the  census  of  the 
Protestant  population  is  worthy  of  permanent  record. 
Dr.  Lanna,  the  Methodist  pastor  at  Rome,  was  asked  by 
the  king's  ministry  to  take  a  certain  immediate  charge 
of  this  work,  to  put  in  order  the  results  thereof,  and  to 
accompany  the  report  finally  with  such  discussion  as 
should  seem  to  him  fitting,  in  order  to  give  the  public 
definite  knowledge  and  just  views  of  this  new  element 
of  the  realm,  which  delicate  and  honorable  task  Dr. 
Lanna  presented  in  a  pamphlet,  a  good  part  of  which 
was  printed  in  the  government  reports. 

Dr.  Lanna  had  the  cooperation  of  the  superintendents 
and  directors  of  other  Protestant  missions.  The  Protes- 
tant population  was  now  estimated  to  be  10,400,  exclu- 
sive of  30,000  resident  and  traveling  Protestants  in  the 
kingdom — a  total  Protestant  population  in  round  num- 
bers of  62,000,  against  32,684  in  1861,  and  58,651  in 
187 1.  These  earlier  returns  were  however  estimated, 
while  that  of  1883  was  computed. 

The  Methodist  "Quarterly  Review,"  January,  1884, 
gives  the  following,  which  shows  the  relative  growth  of 
the  American  Methodist  Mission  in  Italy:  The  Walden- 
sian  churches  advanced,  1878-1882,  from  2,530  to  3,421 ; 
increase,  991.  The  Free  Church  of  Italy,  1,649  to 
1,666;  increase,  17.  Wesleyan  Methodists,  from  1,276 
to    1,451;    increase,   175.     American  Methodists,  (Epis- 


Annual  Conferences,  1 882-1 885.  309 

copal,)  from  437  to  707;  increase,  270.  Baptists  of  va- 
rious forms,  from  (?)  to  847;  increase,  491  (?). 

The  fourth  session  of  the  Conference  convened  at 
Arezzo  March  5,  1884.  No  bishop  being  present.  Dr. 
Vernon  presided  by  the  election  of  the  Conference.  In 
the  Tuscan  town  of  Arezzo,  with  twenty  thousand  inhab- 
itants, Dr.  Vernon  had  cut  a  chapel  out  of  a  dwelling- 
place  right  over  against  the  public  museum.  Two  can- 
didates were  presented  for  admission  on  trial  in  the  Con- 
ference— one  a  man  lately  from  Berlin  University,  the 
other  formerly  an  assistant  priest  at  Naples.  The 
Conference  elected  Dr.  Vernon  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference,  to  meet  in  May  in  Philadelphia,  with  Teofilo 
Gay  alternate,  and  the  Lay  Electoral  body  chose  Giu- 
seppe Varriale,  of  Naples,  with  Stephen  Barker,  Esq.,  of 
New  York,  alternate. 

Chevalier  Varriale  had  just  inclosed  a  chapel  for  the 
church  at  Soccavo,  where  he  resided,  a  village  about  two 
miles  out  of  Naples,  on  the  borders  of  the  bay.  He  did  not 
proceed  to  America  to  discliarge  the  duty  of  representa- 
tive in  the  General  Conference,  and  Mr.  Barker,  a  warm 
friend  of  the  Italy  Mission,  acted  in  this  capacity. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Hargis,  pastor  of  Hedding  Church,  Jersey 
City,  N.  J.,  who  was  appointed  missionary  to  Italy  by 
Bishop  Foss,  sailed  from  New  York  December  27,  1883, 
arrived  early  in  1884,  and  settling  his  family  in  Rome, 
started  for  the  Conference  session  at  Arezzo.  Mr. 
Hargis  here  addressed  the  Conference  on  Sunday- 
school  work,  the  importance  of  which  could  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  been  realized  by  the  Italian  preachers. 
In  his  visits  to  the  several  stations  Mr.  Hargis  found 
grounds  for  encouragement  in  the  work,  and  suggestions 
occurred  to  him  as  to  how  it  might  be  more  rapidly  ad- 


3IO  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

vanced.  He  saw  that  the  priests  yet  had  the  women  of 
Italy  under  their  control,  and  urged  that  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  send  American  women  to 
develop  more  rapidly  their  work. 

During  1884  the  scourge  of  cholera  swept  over  Na- 
ples, continuing  for  several  months.  Several  members 
of  the  church  and  Sunday  school  died,  and  Mrs.  H.  Polsi- 
nelli,  the  pastor's  wife  suffered  a  pretty  severe  attack  of 
the  epidemic. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  Conference  was  presided  over 
by  Bishop  Hurst,  at  Bologna,  commencing  April  23, 
1885.  Dr.  Vernon  had  been  absent  part  of  the  year  in 
America  in  attendance  on  the  General  Conference,  and 
in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  mission  by  conference 
with  the  missionary  authorities.  The  work  in  Italy  had, 
however,  felt  his  absence,  owing  to  special  emergencies 
which  taxed  the  resources  of  the  pastors,  even  with  the  aid 
of  Mr.  Hargis  to  direct  and  inspire  in  Dr.  Vernon's  stead. 

On  Sunday  morning  of  the  Conference  the  Bishop 
preached  by  interpretation  of  Dr.  Gay,  after  which  he 
ordained  seven  men  to  deacons' orders,  and  in  the  even- 
ing five  to  elders'  orders.  On  the  evening  of  the  first 
day  of  tlie  session,  (April  23,)  after  a  sermon  by  Rev. 
Prof.  Tollis,  of  Venice,  Bishop  Hurst  dedicated  the 
new  church  in  which  the  Conference  was  convened.  It 
was  a  structure  with  Gothic  front,  situated  in  the  center 
of  this  old  university  city,  and  the  audience  gathered  on 
the  occasion  of  its  consecration  filled  it  to  overflowing. 
It  would  accommodate  four  hundred  persons,  and  had 
two  good  apartments  of  eight  rooms  each  above  the  au- 
dience room.  It  was  spoken  of  with  admiration  on  all 
hands.  Its  location  was  as  good  as  possible.  Services 
were  continued  every  evening  during  the  week.    In  both 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Bologna,  Italy. 


Annual  Conferences^  1882-1885.  313 

the  ordination  and  dedicatory  services  the  Bisliop  used 
the  ritual  in  the  Italian  language,  greatly  to  the  delight 
of  the  people.  In  his  address  at  the  close  of  the  Con- 
ference he  evinced  familiarity  with  Italian  history  which 
was  also  pleasing  to  the  congregation  and  Conference. 
The  Conference  held  three  sessions  a  day. 

Rev.  Carl  SchoU,  of  Denmark,  was  among  the  visitors 
who  cheered  the  Conference  during  its  session.  The 
Conference  learning  of  the  severe  suffering  of  the  great 
American  soldier,  General  Grant,  instructed  Bishop 
Hurst  to  convey  to  him  their  sincere  regret  for  his  pain- 
ful illness  and  their  high  sense  of  appreciation  of  and 
gratitude  for  his  friendship  to  United  Italy,  which  con- 
tributed greatly  to  its  spiritual  redemption. 

The  novelty  of  Protestant  missions  had  worn  off,  the 
reaction  against  sacerdotalism  of  the  Roman  Church  was 
somewhat  spent,  and  a  general  indifference  to  Gospel 
preaching  had  fallen  on  the  public. 

There  was  a  general  inquiry  as  to  the  next  step,  which 
some  thought  should  be  an  organic  union  of  all  the  Prot- 
estant Churches  in  Italy.  The  boards  of  the  \Yalden- 
sian  and  the  "  Free  Church  "  had  already  agreed  on 
conditions  of  union,  to  be  sanctioned  by  their  respective 
synods. 

A  delegated  council  was  called  in  the  city  of  Florence, 
participated  in  by  the  Waldensian,  "  Free  "  Church,  Wes- 
leyans,  and  American  Methodists,  to  see  what  of  a  practi- 
cal worth  there  might  be  in  the  suggestion.  It  is,  at 
this  day,  needless  to  say  that  no  such  general  union  of 
forces  in  organic  relation  ensued. 

All  this,  added  to  the  spiritual  indifference  which 
characterized  the  general  public,  was  not,  however,  with- 
out serious  result  for  the  time  on  mission  development. 
21 


314  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  Waldensian  and  the  Free  Italian  Churches  each 
maintained  tliat  it  was  ''  'J'he "  Italian  Evangelical 
Church,  the  "  native  "  evangelical  Church  of  Italy,  and 
had  deplored  the  presence  of  "  foreign  "  churches  and  of. 
"  foreign  "  missionaries  in  Italy.  It  will  be  seen,  on  the 
face  of  it,  that  all  this  diverted  the  attention  of  the 
churches  from  their  usual  order,  caused  doubt  as  to 
what  was  to  be  in  the  immediate  future,  and,  added  to 
the  prevailing  national  religious  indifference,  made  de- 
pressing conditions  for  the  mission. 

Despite  these  untoward  events,  however,  much 
had  been  accomplished  in  several  places. 

In  the  city  and  suburbs  of  Geneva,  Switzerland,  was 
a  large  colony  of  Italians.  Teofilo  (afterward  Dr.) 
Malan,  while  a  student  at  Geneva,  aided  by  some  Scotch 
and  English  friends,  began  evangelistic  work  here  among 
his  fellow-countrymen.  This  congregation  and  pastor 
formally  sought  affiliation  with  the  Italy  Conference,  and 
Mr.  Malan  was  now  admitted  to  membership  in  the 
same.  The  congregation  were  holding  services  in  the  old 
consistpry,  or  chapel,  where  John  Calvin  first  delivered 
his  expositions  on  the  Psalms.  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  the 
distinguished  Methodist  historian,  was  at  this  time  a  mem- 
ber of  this  congregation. 

The  work  at  Foggia  had  been  sufficiently  aggressive 
to  develop  violent  opposition,  which  in  one  instance 
was  expressed  by  an  angry  mob  of  two  thousand  men, 
threatening  the  "  Protestants."  They  were  repelled  by 
two  majors  of  the  national  army. 

"Children's  Day"  had  been  observed  in  some  of  the 
churches,  and  the  centenary  of  the  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  celebrated  in  several 
places,  a    paper   being    published  by  Pastor   Conte    at 


Annual  Conferences,  18S2-1885.  315 

Venosa,  called  "  John   Wesley,"  and  prominence  being 
given  to  the  event  in  "  La  Fiaccola." 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  began  work 
in  Italy  in  1877,  was  supporting  thirteen  Italian 
Bible-women,  and  had  now  responded  to  the  growing 
demands  of  the  work  by  sending  from  America  Miss 
Emma  M.  Hall,  of  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  to  superintend  the 
work  among  the  women  in  Italy.  Their  most  important 
work  of  this  year  was  the  establishment  of  a  home  and 
orphanage  at  Rome. 

7.  Annual  Conferences,  1886-1887, 

The  sixth  session  of  the  Confer^ce,  held  in  Venice 
April  29-May  3,  1886,  was  presided  over  by  Bishop 
Foss.  Rev.  J.  F.  Goucher,  D.D.,  of  Baltimore,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Missionary  Board,  at  its  instance  accompanied 
Bishop  Foss  to  render  assistance  in  the  preparation  of 
a  report  on  sundry  items  of  business,  about  which  de- 
tailed information  was  needed,  which  commission  was 
satisfactorily  executed.  Sunday  of  the  Conference  was 
an  interesting  occasion.  At  1 1  a.  m.  Bishop  Foss  or- 
dained two  Italian  preachers  as  deacons  and  elders 
under  the  missionary  rule.  At  12  o'clock  Rev.  Teofilo 
Gay  interpreted  for  the  Bishop  as  he  preached  to  the 
people.  In  the  evening  Mr.  Gay  spoke  on  Protestant 
missions,  a  discourse  prepared  to  refute  late  criticisms 
on  their  efficiency. 

The  Italian  Mission  had  been  founded  and  cared  for 
by  Dr.  Vernon,  who  had  superintended  and  nurtured 
this  mission  almost  without  American  colaborers.  Mr. 
Hargis  had  returned  to  America,  and  Dr.  Vernon  was 
again  alone.  The  General  Committee  of  November, 
1884,  had  made  provision  for  the  sending  out  of  the  Rev. 


3l6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

William  Burt,  of  the  New  York  East  Conference,  who 
arrived  on  the  field  and  was  introduced  to  the  Confer- 
ence. The  Conference  adopted  a  course  of  study  for 
candidates,  and  steps  were  taken  to  devise  a  plan  for 
support  of  superannuated  ministers,  and  widows  and  or- 
phans of  ministers. 

In  order  not  to  appear  to  favor  Roman  Catholic  ven- 
eration of  the  "  Host,"  it  had  been  usual  in  administra- 
ting the  elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  not  to  call  upon 
the  people  to  come  forward  to  an  altar,  nor  to  kneel  ;  but 
Bishop  Foss,  in  conducting  the  services  at  this  time,  had 
the  participants  kneel  at  chairs  in  front  of  the  altar. 
This  meant  far  more  than  can  well  be  appreciated  apart 
from  the  special  environment.  This  discernment  of  the 
difference  between  holy  reverence  in  the  service  and 
adoration  of  the  host  must  be  developed,  and  there  must 
be  some  time  to  begin  the  objective  lesson. 

The  Conference  was  now  divided  into  two  Presiding 
Elders'  districts — Rome,  with  Dr.  Vernon  at  its  head,  and 
Milan,  superintended  by  Mr.  Burt.  Several  of  the 
preachers  were  transferred  to  new  appointments. 

As  early  as  1879  B^ron  Gattuso  opened  a  respectable 
hall  in  Pisa  for  the  religious  services  of  the  mission. 
The  attendance  at  first  was  not  large,  but  became  such 
as  to  lead  the  Archbishop  to  persuade  the  proprietor  of 
the  premises  to  promise  not  to  renew  the  lease  when  it 
should  expire.  Without  formal  contract,  however,  the 
proprietor  allowed  the  holding  of  services,  which  was,  of 
course,  a  very  precarious  tenure.  Dr.  Vernon  mean- 
while observed  an  old  chapel  occupied  by  a  carriage 
maker,  which  he  sought  to  obtain.  Rev.  J.  H.  Hargis 
secured  from  a  personal  friend  in  Philadelphia,  Mr. 
T.  B.  Cope,  partly  as  gift  and  partly  as  loan  without  in- 


Annual  Conferences,  1 886-1 887.  317 

terest,  money  needed  to  purchase  this  property.  It  was 
transformed  into  a  chapel  for  the  mission  and  formally 
dedicated  October  1885,  by  the  Superintendent,  after 
an  opportune  sermon.  It  was  well  located,  and  would 
seat  three  hundred  persons. 

Among  the  accessions  at  Florence  was  a  hero  among 
evangelical  Florentines,  a  venerable  man  of  seventy 
years,  a  nominal  Protestant  for  forty  years,  who  in  early 
life  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  and  was  afterward 
exiled  by  the  Duke  of  Tuscany  for  reading  the  Bible. 

The  seventh  session  of  the  Italy  Conference  was  held 
at  Pisa  by  Bishop  Ninde  in  April,  1887.  The  records 
showed  28  Italian  ministers  and  22  stations,  divided  into 
two  districts  presided  over  by  two  American  mission- 
aries. The  members  and  probationers  numbered  1,200. 
Daniele  Gay  was  appointed  to  open  work  at  Genoa,  one 
of  the  richest,  most  beautiful,  and  most  important  cities 
of  Italy. 

Sunday,  October  10,  1886,  had  been  a  time  of  rejoic- 
ing at  Milan.  For  nearly  ten  years  the  congregation 
had  worshiped  in  a  place  which  afforded  no  opportunity 
for  aggressive  work.  Three  good  places  had  been 
selected,  which  the  influence  of  the  priests  had  been 
sufficient  to  prevent  securing,  but  now  a  place  was  got 
in  tlie  center  of  the  city,  and  a  room  turned  into  a 
chapel.  Part  of  the  ground  floor  was  said  to  be  a  palace 
four  hundred  years  old.  The  ceilings  were  elegantly 
frescoed,  and  by  an  ordinance  of  the  city  they  must  re- 
main as  they  were.  Mr.  Lucias  A.  Hagans,  of  Elm- 
hurst,  111.,  and  Mr.  David  Thomson,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
made  gifts  which  enabled  them  to  add  other  decorations. 
Mrs.  Bishop  Foss  contributed  an  Estey  organ.  Monday 
evening,  October  11,  a  general  meeting  was  held  at  which 


3i8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

representatives    of    the    Waldensian,  Free,  and  Baptist 
Churches  made  addresses  of  congratulation. 

Persecution  was  rife.  The  mission  had  taken  an  ac- 
tive part  in  Bible  colportage  at  various  places  from 
time  to  time.  Among  those  thus  engaged  for  several 
years  were  two  members  of  the  church  of  Foggia — Dei 
Principe  and  Cocca.  While  the  latter  was  prosecuting 
his  work  in  a  mountain  district  he  was  called  on  by  two 
priests,  who  abused  him  violently,  tore  up  some  of  his 
books,  and,  ordering  him  to  leave  the  village,  said,  "With 
a  word  we  may  liave  you  assassinated."  The  colporteur, 
however,  obtained  redress  of  the  tribunal,  and  the  assail- 
ants were  condemned  to  eighty-six  days'  imprisonment 
and  to  pay  a  small  fine. 

An  incident  illustrating  the  incessant  opposition  and 
persecution  which  the  mission  was  obliged  to  encounter 
occurred  at  Modena,  on  the  Milan  District.  Modena 
was  an  ancient  city,  with  a  population  of  50,000,  on  the 
fertile  plane  between  Secchia  and  Pararo  Rivers,  on  the 
old  Via  Emilia,  formerly  the  capital  of  the  Duchy  of 
Modena,  now  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Emilia.  It 
was  a  place  of  great  historic  interest,  having  many  an- 
cient palaces.  Brutus  was  besieged  here  for  four  months 
after  his  mutiny  against  Antony.  It  had  always  been  a 
Jesuit  stronghold,  and  was  full  of  Roman  Catholic 
churches  and  priests.  There  was  scarcely  a  family  not 
in  some  degree  related  with  the  priesthood.  Work  had 
been  begun  here  in  a  small  way  with  a  few  disciples. 

The  report  of  the  Missionary  Society  showed  that  this 
year  had  been  one  of  the  hardest  known  for  all  evan- 
gelical work  throughout  Italy.  Early  in  the  summer  the 
Pope,  in  an  encyclical,  uttered  sentiments  which  were 
taken  by   many  to  be   a  proposal  of  reconciliation  be- 


Annual  Conferences,  1 886- 1887.  319 

tween  the  king  and  the  pope,  between  the  kingdom  of 
United  Italy  and  the  papacy,  and  as  foreshadowing  condi- 
tions which  possibly  might  be  acceptable.  A  great  wave 
of  conciliatory  sentiment  swept  over  the  country  of  a 
superficial  character,  favorable  to  the  suggested  recon- 
ciliation. Prelates,  pViests,  and  the  papacy  everywhere 
began  to  lift  their  heads,  to  assume  their  old  autocratic 
air,  and  to  intermeddle  and  dictate  everywhere,  as  if  a 
plebiscite  had  already  restored  them  to  their  former  \)0- 
sition  and  power.  Liberals  were  subjected  to  many 
molestations  ;  Protestants  were  threatened  and  prophe- 
sied against  ;  colporteurs  were  assaulted  and  their  books 
were  scattered,  and  one,  an  Englishman,  lay  in  prison 
several  days  in  Sardinia,  where  he  had  been  cast  for 
selling  the  Scriptures  in  an  open  square  by  the  town 
mayor,  more  a  priest  than  his  brother,  who  wore  a  cas- 
sock. The  members  of  various  of  our  congregations 
were  harassed  by  the  sullen  and  cowardly  persecution. 
Protestant  funerals  in  various  places  were  brutally  as- 
saulted, and  scenes  were  witnessed  worthy  of  inquisito- 
rial times  and  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  auguries  were 
anything  else  but  favorable  to  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel. 

But  the  reaction  soon  came.  There  was  a  general 
outcry  against  the  absolutist  system  of  papal  infallibility. 
Thus  more  securely  than  ever  had  been  sealed  the  tomb 
of  the  temporal  power,  which  now,  after  seventeen  years, 
was  still  nauseous  to  Italians  ;  thus  more  fully  and  firmly 
than  ever  was  sanctioned  and  confirmed  those  institu- 
tions and  liberties  which  alone  could  guarantee  the 
existence  and  future  of  the  Protestant  Church  in 
Italy. 


320  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

8.  Annual  Conferences,  1888-1889. 

Dr.  Vernon  presided  at  the  eighth  annual  session  of 
the  Conference,  held  in  Rome  March  14-19,  18S8. 
Twenly-four  members  were  present.  Four  ministers 
were  continued  on  trial,  one  discontinued,  one  made 
supernumerary,  one  superannuated,  one  traveling  dea- 
con passed  to  second  class.  The  conviction  had  been 
growing  upon  the  mission  that,  in  order  to  secure  a  type 
of  preachers  essential  to  the  class  of  work  sought  to  be 
done,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  inaugurate  measures 
for  the  education  and  training  of  ministers  directly  by 
tlie  mission.  Rev.  E.  S.  Stackpole,  of  the  Maine  Con- 
ference, had  been  transferred  to  Italy  Conference  to 
superintend  the  development  of  a  theological  seminary. 
He  had  been  diligently  perfecting  his  knowledge  of  the 
Italian  language  preparatory  to  entering  on  his  duties 
at  Florence,  where  it  was  decided  the  institution  should 
be  established.  Dr.  Vernon  was  elected  delegate  to  the 
next  General  Conference. 

Better  places  of  worship  had  been  obtained  at  several 
places.  Persecution  had  raged  at  Foggia,  and  Miss 
Hall's  work  at  Saccavo,  a  suburb  of  Naples,  had  been 
obstructed  by  the  fiercest  threatened  excommunication 
of  parents  allowing  children  to  attend  her  school. 

Pontedera  was  a  thrifty  Tuscan  town  of  10,000  in- 
habitants between  Pisa  and  Florence.  While  Dr.  J.  F. 
Goucher  and  Mrs.  Goucher  were  here  in  1886  they  gen- 
erously provided  for  a  chapel  at  this  place.  The  local 
priests  were  able  to  thwart  all  plans  looking  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  their  purpose.  It  was,  however,  at  last 
completed  and  dedicated  November  4,  1887.  Several 
conversions  signalized  this  service.     Another  convenient 


Annual  Conferences^  1 888-1 889.  321 

chapel  was  dedicated  at  Perugia  November  6,  1887.  A 
cemetery  with  mortuary  chapel  at  Soccavo,  a  suburb  of 
Naples,  deeded  to  the  church  as  a  gift  by  Chevalier 
Varriale,  was  dedicated  November  i,  1887.  All  Saints' 
Day,  when  the  people  of  Italy  decorate  the  cemeteries, 
a  procession  of  some  five  hundred  people  with  banners 
of  Christian  associations  flying  marched  to  the  scene  of 
the  public  services  on  this  occasion. 

In  the  same  month  Perugia  found  a  suitable  chapel 
home.  Perugia  was  one  of  the  most  delightful  minor 
cities.  It  was  the  seat  of  the  Archiepiscopal  See  of  Leo 
XIII  for  many  years  before  he  became  pope.  The  Wal- 
densians  entered  the  field,  but  soon  abandoned  it.  Dr. 
Caporali  began  the  Methodist  mission  work  here.  A 
good  many  persons  converted  here  had  gone  to  other 
places,  and  some  had  died,  among  whom  was  a  distin- 
guished author  and  professor  of  the  University  of  Peru- 
gia, Filippo  Perfetti.  The  society  was  not  large.*  It 
had  been  obliged  to  occupy  five  different  places  of  wor- 
ship. An  excellent  property  was  at  last  secured,  well 
located  near  the  chief  thorouglifare,  a  few  yards  from  the 
Archiepiscopal  chapel.  A  chapel  was  constructed  in  the 
building,  on  the  ground  floor,  the  floors  above  being  con- 
verted into  a  comfortable  parsonage  with  small  apart- 
ments to  rent.  Dr.  Gay  preached  the  sermon  and  Dr. 
Vernon  dedicated  this  chapel,  and  meetings  were  held 
by  them  throughout  the  following  week. 

In  February  15,  1888,  a  new  well-furnished  and  favor- 
ably situated  hall  was  opened  at  Venice  with  a  good 
audience  on  a  stormy  night.  The  Italian  church  at 
Geneva  counted  sixty  members  in  an  Italian  population 
of  8,000,  and  they  were  worshiping  in  an  old  church 
built  in   the  sixteenth   century   by   Protestant    refugees 


322  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

from  North  Italy  driven  out  by  the  Roman  inquisition. 
Florence  still  claims  the  largest  congregation  in  Italy. 
Palermo,  the  first  station  occupied  by  the  mission  in 
Sicily,  had  an  independent  church  of  thirty-eight  mem- 
bers and  eighteen  probationers.  The  pastor  died,  and 
they  were  admitted  on  their  solicitation  to  the  Confer- 
ence on  a  self-supporting  basis. 

Great  opposition  had  been  encountered  in  attempting 
to  rent  a  hall  in  Genoa.  Adria  had  a  new  hall  holding 
three  hundred  persons,  crowded  at  every  service,  though 
priests  and  others  stood  in  the  streets  to  oppose  the 
mission  school.  Dr.  Vernon  was  al)out  to  retire  to 
America  after  seventeen  years  of  service.  Mr.  Burt  con- 
tinued in  charge  of  Milan  District  ;  Rev.  G.  B.  Gattuso, 
one  of  the  Italian  ministers,  becoming  Presiding  Elder 
of  Rome  District,  vacated  by  Dr.  Vernon's  leaving  the 
mission. 

Dr.  Vernon  had  reason  to  be  grateful  for  what  had 
been  brought  to  pass  under  his  leadership.  The  work 
was  well  initiated  in  all  the  primary  cities  of  the  coun- 
try, in  several  of  secondary  grade,  and  in  smaller  towns 
and  villages,  thus  including  many  varieties  of  place,  peo- 
ple, and  usages.  Considering  the  length  of  time,  seven- 
teen years  from  the  initiation  of  the  movement,  and  the 
amount  of  money  expended  upon  it,  the  present  show- 
ing seemed  highly  encouraging  and  would  compare  fa- 
vorably with'  any  other  Protestant  advance  in  Italy.  The 
Italian  ministers  presented  a  pleasing  variety  of  gifts 
and  attainments,  numbering  among  the  group  of  twenty- 
nine,  examples  of  mental  vigor,  high  culture,  and  exem- 
plary devotion.  The  members  had  in  numerous  in- 
stances embraced  the  Gospel  at  great  cost  of  temporal 
advantage,  had  endured  grievous  persecutions  and  loss 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Milan,  Italy. 


Annual  Conferences,  18S8-18S9.  325 

of  friendship,  yet  had  humbly  borne  the  boldest  testi- 
mony and  exhibited  great  consistency  in  their  Christian 
life  and  external  conduct. 

The  statistic  now  reported  were  :  Members,  982  ;  pro- 
bationers, 177;  local  preachers,  7;  churches,  6;  value, 
$48,000  ;  parsonages,  6;  value,  $13,000  ;  Sunday-schools, 
18;  scholars,  457.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  work  had  had  from  the  first  the  supervision  of 
Mrs.  Vernon  until  Miss  Hall's  arrival  and  her  hearty  co- 
operation at  all  times.  This  Society  now  supported,  un- 
der Miss  Hall  as  directress,  nine  Bible  women,  stationed 
at  Foggia,  Forli,  Milan,  Pisa,  Rome,  Soccavo,  Turin,  and 
Venice. 

Bishop  Fowler  met  the  Conference  May  2-6,  1889,  at 
Milan.  Rev.  T.  D.  Malan  was  transferred  to  the  Phila- 
delphia Conference  and  stationed  in  charge  of  the  Ital- 
ian work  in  that  city.  Drs.  Lanna  and  Teofilo  Gay  were 
granted  a  location.  The  Methodist  "  Quarterly  Re- 
view "  ("  Nuova  Scienza")  being  discontinued.  Dr. 
Caporali  was  assigned  to  other  duties.  Rev.  Elmer  E. 
Count  arrived,  having  been  transferred  from  the  Newark 
Conference,  and  was  aiding  Dr.  Stackpole  in  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  which  seven  young  men  were  study- 
ing for  the  ministry.  A  committee  from  the  Italian  Free 
Church  formally  requested  that  they  be  permitted  to 
place,  at  their  own  expense,  their  own  young  men  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry  in  this  school.  It  was  decided 
now  to  reduce  the  Presiding  Elder's  work  to  a  single  dis- 
trict, and  Mr.  Burt  was  placed  in  charge  of  it.  Four 
men  were  admitted  to  full  membership  and  one  on  trial 
in  this  Conference.  On  the  first  day  of  the  Conference 
tlie  new  church  edifice  at  Milan  was  dedicated.  The 
house  was  packed  with  eager  hearers;  the  church,  seating 


326  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

three  hundred,  could  not  contain  more  than  half  the 
congregation  seeking  admittance.  The  edifice  was  of 
stone,  the  dimensions  of  the  audience-room  28x50  feet, 
and  its  cost  estimated  at  $22,000.  It  was  well  located  on 
the  corner  of  Corso  Garibaldi  and  Via  Degli  Angioli. 
The  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  occasion  was  an 
altar  service,  held  on  Friday  night,  when  at  the  close  of 
the  sermon  an  invitation  was  given  for  those  seeking 
spiritual  life  to  come  and  kneel  at  the  altar  during  a 
season  of  prayer  in  their  behalf.  Nine  persons  came 
forward  promptly,  chiefly  young  men,  though  one  was  a 
man  who  looked  three-score.  Others  gave  their  names 
at  the  close  of  the  service  to  the  pastor,  expressing  their 
desire  to  become  Christians.  Dr.  Stackpole,  who  wrote 
this  data  concerning  it,  added  :  "  It  is  doubtful  if  Italy 
ever  saw  such  a  sight  before."  The  interest  continued 
through  other  evenings,  until  about  one  hundred  in  all 
sought  peace,  and  thirty  professed  conversion. 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  under  Miss 
Hall,  had  made  a  signal  advance,  opening  its  Home  and 
Orphanage  at  Rome,  October,  1888. 

A  new  paper,  "The  Evangelist,"  had  been  begun  ;  and 
the  Discipline  of  the  Church  translated  into  Italian  from 
the  English  edition  of  18S8  was  printed,  and  five  hun- 
dred copies  sold. 

The  matter  of  schools  was  more  and  more  pressing 
for  consideration.  There  was  a  day  and  English  school 
at  Pontedera  of  80  cliildren,  and  evening  schools  of  106 
scholars.  At  Palermo  22  pupils  were  taught  by  the 
preacher's  wife,  who  received  no  salary  for  this  work. 
Bishop  Fowler  favored,  as  did  Dr.  Stackpole  and  Pre- 
siding Elder  P.urt,  the  building  of  a  grand  central  insti- 
tution of  Methodism  at  Rome.    Rome  had  nearly  doubled 


Annual  Conferences,  1888-1S89.  327 

her  population  in  fifteen  years,  and  the  country  had  con- 
siderably increased  its  population  since  1870.  Rome  was 
to  Italy  what  Paris  was  to  France,  the  center  of  all  good 
and  of  all  bad  influences  in  the  land.  The  Roman  Church 
was  crowding  the  city  with  schools.  In  1870  there  were 
only  5  Roman  Catholic  seminaries  in  Rome  for  the 
training  of  priests;  now  there  were  15  Italian  semina- 
ries, 2  French,  3  American,  i  Armenian,  i  Bohemian,  i 
German,  i  Greek,  2  English,  i  Irish,  2  Scotch,  i  Polish, 
I  Asiatic,  i  Oriental,  i  Belgian,  i  Illyrian,  2  Teutonic, 
and  5  Jesuit  ;  in  all,  41.  In  1877  there  were  22  monas- 
tic houses  in  Rome  ;  now  there  were  128.  In  1870 
there  were  only  9  clerical  schools  in  Rome  ;  now,  117, 
wholly  in  the  hands  of  priests,  friars,  and  nuns.  Of  a 
population  of  405,366,  26,428  children  were  in  the  com- 
munal schools,  18,740  in  the  clerical,  and  only  384  in 
the  evangelical  and  Jewish.  Dr.  Stackpole,  reviewing 
these  figures,  asked  if  it  was  not  time  for  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  if  she  meant  to  stay  in  Italy  and 
accomplish  her  work,  to  build  an  educational  institution 
worthy  of  herself  in  Rome. 

The  country  at  large  was  undergoing  a  great  change 
in  the  matter  of  general  intelligence.  In  1861,  out  of  a 
total  population  of  21,777,331,  there  were  no  less  than 
16,999,701  "analphabetes,"  or  persons  absolutely  unable 
to  read.  Of  children  between  five  and  twelve  years  of 
age  as  many  as  eighty-two  per  cent,  were  in  this  condi- 
tion, and  of  those  between  twelve  and  nineteen,  seventy- 
one  per  cent. 

Fifty-nine  per  cent,  of  married  men  and  seventy-eight 
per  cent,  of  married  women  were  obliged  to  make  their 
"mark  "as  a  substitute  for  their  signatures.  In  some 
parts    of  the   country    the    illiterate  class    constituted 


328  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ninety-one  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  But  the  school  system 
of  1870  and  the  compulsory  attendance  required  by  the 
law  of  1877  had  made  a  great  change  in  the  condition 
of  society.  The  mission,  perhaps  with  unwonted  sym- 
pathy with  the  patriotic  impulse  of  the  nation  just  then 
freed  from  sacerdotal  compulsory  conditions,  and  seek- 
ing to  secure  a  national  system  of  public  schools,  may 
well  have  questioned  whether  it  was  the  wiser  course  to 
institute  ecclesiastical  schools,  rather  than  by  all  possible 
example  and  influence  to  foster  the  national  movement 
for  common  schools,  then  in  its  incipiency,  and  facing 
prejudice,  pecuniary  limitations,  and  other  similar  odds. 
But  whatever  was  wise  then,  new  conditions  had  made 
it  necessary  to  reopen  the  question  as  to  what  educa- 
tional policy  should  be  maintained  in  the  future.  In 
view  of  the  present  facts,  was  it  not  essential  to  estab- 
lish not  only  schools  for  training  Methodist  preachers, 
but  also  for  Methodist  teachers  and  leaders  of  society  ? 
Should  an  entire  system  of  education,  from  primary 
night  andday  schools  up,  not  benowattempted  in  order  to 
the  best  development  of  the  mission  and  to  meet  its 
prospective  obligations  ?  Were  there  not  responsibilities 
to  be  met  in  this  direction  toward  the  families  of  Meth- 
odists, numbering  now  a  thousand  communicants,  with 
another  thousand  "adherents.''"  There  was  unusual 
force  in  all  these  questions  since  the  law  required  pupils 
to  attend  Sunday-schoolsconnected  with  the  day-schools 
where  they  were  taught  week  days. 

9.  Annual  Conferences,  1890-1892. 

The  ninth  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  at  Bo- 
logna April  23-28,  1890,  presided  over  by  Bishop  War- 
ren.    The  Theological  School  at  Florence  had  been  or- 


Annual  Conferences^  1 890-1 892.  329 

ganized  under  a  regular  faculty,  'Everett  S.  Stackpolc 
being  Director  and  Instructor  in  Systematic  Theology  ; 
William  Burt,  Instructor  in  Pastoral  Theology;  E.  E. 
Count,  Instructor  in  English  ;  Giacomo  Carboneri,  In- 
structor in  Old  and  New  Testament  Exegesis  ;  and  Vin- 
cenzo  Ravi,  instructor  in  Church  History.  Ravi,  at  twenty 
years  of  age,  was  consecrated  to  the  priesthood,  and 
when  twenty-seven  was  professor  in  a  Roman  seminary. 
He  was  converted  and  trained  for  three  years  in  the  Wal- 
densian  Seminary,  and  then  spent  one  year  in  Edinburgh- 
prior  to  becoming  identified  with  the  Methodist  Mission 
in  Italy. 

Calls  for  laborers  increased.  Between  Melfi  and 
Venosa  was  a  place  of  four  thousand  inhabitants,  Ra- 
polla,  where  the  President  of  the  Workingmen's  Associa- 
tion led  the  way,  and  the  people  asked  Dr.  Burt  to  send 
a  Christian  teacher,  they  to  provide  the  schoolroom  and 
home  for  the  same.  The  teacher  was  found  and  sent. 
Forty  persons  at  Forenza  asked  for  a  preacher.  An  even- 
ing school  was  begun  at  Genoa.  San  Marzano,  in  the 
Piedmont  hills,  and  Dovadola  had  each  a  day-school  of 
twenty  children.  The  latter  place  had  sixty-five  young 
men  in  an  evening  school. 

A  commodious  chapel  was  opened  at  Turin,  July, 
1889.  Genoa  had  an  evening  school  and  new  quarters 
for  the  mission.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, under  Miss  Hall's  superintendence,  had  made  a 
signal  advance  since  the  opening  of  the  Home  and  Or- 
phanage, the  attendance  having  doubled  within  the 
year.  Several  of  the  pupils  were  being  trained  for 
teachers.  Miss  M.  E.  Vickery,  appointed  in  1889,  ar- 
rived from  America  to  teach  in  the  Girls'  School  witii  Miss 
Hall. 


330  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Bishoj)  Walden  mft  the  Italy  Conference  in  its  tenth 
annual  session,  June,  1891.  One  Italian  minister 
withdrew.  The  statistical  report  showed  229  con- 
versions during  the  year,  ^1,022  raised  for  self-support, 
$445  for  other  local  purposes,  while  they  were  showing 
tlieir  appreciation  of  connectional  Methodism  by  collec- 
tions for  the  missionary  and  other  benevolent  societies 
this  year,  contributing  $238.  Schools  now  numbered 
14,  with  651  scholars  ;  the  Sunday  schools  enrolled  583 
scholars. 

Methodists  in  Italy  "die  well,"  as  elsewhere.  Cavil- 
liere  Variale  died  at  his  beautiful  home,  at  Soccavo,  near 
Naples,  February  19,  1881.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
he  had  provided  that  the  Missionary  Society  should  be 
the  legatee  of  this  delightful  home,  estimated  worth 
$20,000,  and  as  having  sought  to  secure  the  establish- 
ment here  of  a  Home  and  Orphanage  by  Miss  Hall  sim- 
ilar to  that  in  Rome. 

The  press  had  issued  a  "Life  of  Wesley"  for  chil- 
dren, translated  into  Italian  by  Mrs.  Rose,  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Church  ;  also  the  Sunday  School  Lessons,  which 
were  highly  appreciated. 

The  eleventh  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  at 
Pisa,  October  6,  1892,  by  Bishop  Joyce.  The  Bishop 
had  visited  Bulgaria  and,  returning,  arrived  at  Venice 
September  26,  where  he  addressed  the  congregation  on 
the  27th,  as  he  did  that  at  Milan  on  the  28th.  Sunday, 
October  2,  he  preached  and  administered  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  at  Florence.  At  an  "altar 
service  "  that  evening  two  or  three  sought  pardon. 

The  Conference  session  was  opened  with  the  Sacra- 
mental service.  On  Saturday  afternoon  the  Bishop  held 
a  meeting,  with  only   the  members  of  the  Conference 


Annual  Conferences,  1890-1892.  33 1 

present.  "  It  was  a  meeting  never  to  be  forgotten," 
was  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Burt  concerning  it. 

Rev.  E.  S.  Stackpole  retired  to  America,  and  Rev.  N. 
W.  Clark,  of  Frankfort,  Germany,  was  transferred  to  the 
Italy  Conference  to  succeed  Dr.  Stackpole  in  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Theological  School,  which  it  was  now  de- 
cided to  remove  from  Florence  and  establish  at  Rome. 

"Children's  Day"  had  been  more  generally  observed 
than  hitherto;  Rome,  Florence,  Modena,  Geneva,  Turin, 
Milan,  Foggia,  and  Canelli  all  participating  in  the  occa- 
sion, and  contributing  a  collection  of  $33. 

The  Conference  specially  rejoiced  that  property  had 
beensecured  at  Rome  with  the  purpose  that  a  general  col- 
legiate, publishing,  and  otherwise  connectional  building 
might  be  afterward  erected.  It  was  one  of  the  most,  if 
not  really  the  preeminent  feature  of  the  history  of  the 
Conference  year  just  concluded. 

On  the  20th  day  of  September  the  liberating  army 
entered  Rome  by  a  street  which  henceforth  was  to  bear 
the  date  as  its  honored  designation.  The  very  street  re- 
sounded with  memories,  as  it  bore  the  title  Via  Venti 
Settembre,  (20th  of  September.)  The  Missionary  So- 
ciety in  New  York,  as  has  been  noted,  on  that  very 
"20th  of  September"  adopted  its  first  resolution  to 
found  a  mission  in  Italy,  and  on  the  20th  of  September, 
1891,  the  mission  secured  by  purchase  a  fine  property 
on  Via  Venti  Settembre,  in  Rome,  next  to  the  War  De- 
partment, and  but  a  short  distance  from  the  royal 
palace.  The  prayer  now  was  that  God  would  put  it 
into  the  heart  of  men  of  financial  ability  to  give  the 
money  to  erect  on  this  site  a  conspicuous  building  wor- 
thy of  the  Church  and  the  enterprises  proposed  to  be 
served  by  it. 


332  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

lO.  Annual  Conference,  1893. 

Bishop  Vincent  held  the  twelfth   session  of  the  Con- 
ference at  Pisa  September   7-11,    1893.     Dr.  Stackpole 
was  transferred  to  the  Maine  Conference,  and  Rev.  E.  E. 
Count  to   the  New  York  East  Conference.      Rev.  Henry 
Simi)son  Lunn  was  received  from  the  Wesleyan  Confer- 
ence and   appointed    President    of    Grindehvald    Chau- 
tauqua  in  Europe.      Signor  Gaetano   Conte  was  trans- 
ferred to   Boston  to  take   charge  of   Italian  work.     One 
member  withdrew    from    the    Conference.      Rev.  N.  W. 
Clark,  who   had   been   transferred  to  the   Conference  a 
year  before  from  the  Germany  Conference,  having  com- 
pleted his  service  of  the  academic  year  in  Martin  Mis- 
sion Institute  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  had  arrived  in 
Italy,  and  was  now  presented  to  the  Conference.     Three 
young  men  were   received  on  trial,  the  first  fruit  of  the 
Theological  School.     This  institution,  after  having  been 
inoperative  for  the  year,  being  in  transition   from   Flor- 
ence to  Rome,  was  reorganized.   It  was  reopened  in  Octo- 
ber following  the  Conference.     E.  E.  Powell,  who  was 
appointed    to  the  Italy  Mission  in   1890,  was  assigned 
duty  as  pastor  in  Rome  and  Professor  of  Church  History 
and  English  in  the  school  ;   G.  Carboneri,  also  pastor  in 
Rome,  was  assigned  to   the  duty  of  Professor  of  Exe- 
getical  Theology  ;   Dr.  Burt,  in  addition  to  his  other  du- 
ties as  Presiding  Elder  and  Director  of  Publications,  was 
Professor  of  Homiletics  and  Pastoral  Theology ;  and  N. 
W.  Clark  was  President  of  the   School,  having   besides 
the    Department  of  Biblical  and    Dogmatic  Theology. 
There  were  twelve   applicants   for  admission,  of  whom 
but   four  were  admitted,  not  because  others  were  not 
worthy,  but  they  did   not  come   within   the    provision 


Annual  Conference^  1893.  333 

adopted  that  all  persons  received  in  the  school  must 
have  been  employed  previously  at  least  one  year  under 
proper  supervision  in  the  regular  work. 

The  work  among  Italian  colonies  in  Switzerland  had 
been  extended  to  other  cities  besides  Geneva,  Mr. 
Scoulipnikow,  a  generous  friend,  defraying  the  extra  ex- 
pense of  the  same  in  Montreux,  Vevey,  and  Lausanne, 
in  each  of  which  places  there  had  been  conversions. 

The  foundation  stone  of  the  new  building  at  Rome 
was  laid  with  impressive  services.  Dr.  Burt  presided. 
Prayer  was  offered  by  Professor  Carboneri,  and  ad- 
dresses were  delivered  by  Bishop  Vincent,  Dr.  Lunn,  and 
Professor  Taglialatela. 

The  General  Conference  having  made  provision  for 
the  organization  of  a  Central  Conference  in  a  foreign 
land,  composed  of  representatives  of  the  several  Confer- 
ences therein,  the  Italy  Conference  at  this  session  of 
1893  appointed  a  Committee  to  correspond  with  the 
other  Methodist  Conferences  and  missions  in  Europe  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  some  kind  of  union  or  Central 
Conference  in  Europe.  The  organization  of  such  a  Con- 
ference has  already  been  recorded  in  connection  with 
the  work  in  Germany  and  Switzerland. 

The  Orphanage  and  Training  Home  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  under  Miss  Hall  and  Miss 
Vickery,  begun  October,  188S,  now  enrolled  forty  chil- 
dren from  different  parts  of  Italy,  gathered  under  its 
sheltering  roof.  Nearly  one  third  of  the  members  were 
from  families  of  the  mission;  the  others  were  of  nomi- 
nally Roman  Catholic  connection. 

The  Publishing  House  at  Rome  was  doing  good  serv- 
ice. During  the  year  1892  it  sent  out  62,000  copies  of 
the  weekly  paper,  "  Evangelista,"  issued  a  "  Probationer's 


334  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Manual,"  "Constitution  of  Epvvorth  League,"  170,000 
pages  of  tracts,  and  57,000  copies  of  miscellaneous 
temporary  circulars.  A  "  Sunday  School  Quarterly," 
adopted  by  all  evangelical  denominations,  had  aggre- 
gated 3,000  copies  of  106,000  pages.  Bishop  Hurst's 
"Outlines  of  Bible  History"  in  Italian  was  also  printed. 

The  reports  at  the  Conference  showed  that  39  stations 
were  occupied;  26  ministers  members  of  the  Conference, 
6  local  preachers,  and  9  teachers  employed  in  the  work. 
There  were  995  members  and  277  probationers,  making 
a  total  membership  of  1,272.  The  26  Sunday  schools 
had  828  scholars  and  teachers,  and  13  day  and  evening 
schools  enrolled  554  scholars  and  teachers.  The  financial 
returns  showed  :  Collected  for  self-support,  $2,562  ;  Mis- 
sionary collection,  $329;  Educational  Society,  $63  ;  so- 
cial benevolences,  $390;  publications,  $500 — making  a 
total  of  $3,884. 

The  review  of  the  history  of  the  mission,  while  it  dis- 
closed less  apparent  results  than  some  sanguine  people 
had  hoped  for  at  its  inception,  yet  exhibited  much  rea- 
son for  anticipating  far  more  rapid  growth  in  the  future, 
as  it  was  proven  that  Methodism  was  admirably  adapted 
to  the  peoples  of  all  parts  of  Italy.  Italy  had  till  our 
own  time  no  political  unity,  no  existence  as  a  nation.  Its 
history  was  not  the  history  of  a  single  people,  but  of 
cognate  groups,  and  the  Methodist  Church  was,  at  least, 
fairly  initiated  at  the  most  prominent  strategic  points  in 
this,  the  youngest  of  the  greater  nations  of  Europe. 


MexicaD  Natiooal 
Sonoi 
iDternational, 
Mexican  Orieotal 
Mexican  Southern 


Tebuantepi 
Hidalgo, 


PART  XIT. 

MISSION  TO  MEXICO. 


The  kings  of  the  earth  set  theinseh'es,  and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together, 
against  the  Lord ,  and  against  his  anointed,  saying.  Let  us  break  their  hands 
asuttder,  and  cast  aivay  their  cords  from  us.  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens 
shall  laugh  :  the  Lord  shall  ha^'C  them  in  derision. — Psa.  ii,  2-4. 

Say  not  unto  thy  neighbor.  Go,  and  come  again,  and  to-7norrow  I  will  give  ; 
when  thou  hast  it  by  thee. — J'rov.  Hi,  2S. 

1.   Introductory. 

^pHE  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  sup- 
*■  ported  by  many  Christian  denominations,  had  been 
I'br  some  years  actively  engaged  in  giving  a  pure  Chris- 
tianity to  Mexico.  Experience  seemed  to  indicate  to 
many  that  the  work  of  evangelizing  Mexico  would  pro- 
gress more  rapidly  if  each  denomination  of  Protestant 
Christians  would  bring  the  full  force  of  its  peculiarities 
to  bear  upon  the  general  superstitions  and  errors  of  that 
land.  Moreover,  funds  were  needed  for  the  work  beyond 
all  that  could  be  supplied  by  this  general  society;  but  if 
each  denomination  were  to  send  its  own  missionaries 
into  the  field,  and  assume  the  responsibility  and  control 
of  its  own  work,  it  was  thought  the  interest  in  the  mis- 
sion would  be  increased,  the  funds  be  forthcoming,  and 
the  spiritual  results  be  correspondingly  greater.  There 
certainly  came  a  period  in  the  history  of  this  effort  when 
several  Churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  felt  impelled 
to  enter  Mexico  each  for  itself. 


336         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year  1872  the  Baptist,  Con- 
gregational, and  Presbyterian  Churches,  in  response  to 
this  conviction,  entered  Mexico,  and  the  General  Mis- 
sionary Committee  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
which  met  in  November  of  the  same  year,  made  an  ap- 
propriation to  Mexico,  with  the  full  expectation  of  its 
being  used.  A  like  appropriation  to  Mexico  had  been 
made  for  several  preceding  years,  under  influences  al- 
ready spoken  of  in  the  preceding  account  of  the  mis- 
sion to  Italy,  but  the  way  to  open  the  mission  had  not 
until  now  clearly  appeared. 

2.  Hinderances  Removed. 

The  wonderful  events  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  in 
Mexico,  including  the  utter  defeat  of  the  papacy  in  its 
attempts  to  erect  a  barrier  on  the  northern  frontier,  be- 
yond which  the  evangelical  Christianity  of  the  United 
States  should  not  pass  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  that  coun- 
try, or  to  the  thirteen  States  and  nations  that  lie  beyond 
it,  and  speak  its  language,  are  well  known.  They  form 
one  of  the  most  manifest  interpositions  of  the  "  hand  of 
God  in  history  "  that  has  ever  occurred,  and  show  at 
what  cost  the  Lord  prepared  and  defended  the  way  of 
his  Church  into  the  papal  lands  to  the  south  of  us. 

It  is  startling  to  remember  how  few  are  the  years 
since  the  word  of  God  was  jealously  excluded  from 
Mexico,  and  religious  liberty  denied  by  laws  dictated 
by  Rome;  how  few,  since  the  Romish  Inquisition  there 
tortured  its  victims,  and  spiritual  dei;potism  made  and 
unmade  governments,  and  trampled  proudly  upon  tlie 
dearest  rights  of  ten  millions  of  people !  But  God  Jieard 
the  groans  and  saw  the  sufferings  of  that  people,  and, 
by  one  of  those  movements  of  the  popular  mind  that 
can  be  accounted   for  only  by  admitting  his  interposi- 


Hitidcrances  Ke moved.  33" 

tion,  "the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  "  of  tlie  Mexican 
peoi)le.  In  response  to  the  call,  in  1810,  of  Miguel 
Hidalgo,  the  cure  of  Dolores,  they  arose  in  their  might, 
and,  after  eleven  long  years  of  fierce  and  varying  con- 
test, they  triumphed  over  the  combined  despotism  of 
Spain  and  the  Papacy,  and  gained  their  political  inde- 
pendence. 

Religious  liberty  now  began  to  dawn.  The  march  of 
the  American  army  into  Mexico  in  1847,  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures  that  were  scattered  in  its  track,  with  the 
immediate  incoming  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  spread  light  that  had  never  before  shone  in 
Mexico,  and  sowed  seeds,  the  harvest  from  which  is 
appearing  to-day  in  various  portions  of  that  land.  That 
the  Bible  was  favorable  to  freedom  and  human  rights 
was  generally  understood.  It  was  read,  and  handed 
around  from  one  to  another  for  twenty  years  before  any 
missionary  could  enter  the  country.  Providence  being 
all  this  time  preparing  the  way  for  their  entering. 

In  due  time  that  remarkable  man,  Benito  Juarez, 
arose  to  power.  He  was  a  Mexican  of  unmixed  blood, 
the  framer  of  the  magnificent  Constitution  of  1857, 
which  proclaimed  civil  and  religious  freedom  for  Mex- 
ico, and  thus  threw  open  its  gates  for  the  incoming  of 
an  evangelical  ministry.  The  nation  rejoiced  as  ii 
day  had  dawned  after  a  long  night  of  darkness.  Slav- 
ery under  the  rule  of  the  monk  was  all  the  more  de- 
test t'd  because  blasphemously  exercised  in  the  name  of 
religion,  and  now  it  was  ended  forever,  and  Mexicans 
were  free. 

But  Rome  was  not  inclined  to  surrender  to  eithei 
Providence  or  the  people.  Her  European  Jesuits  and 
Ultiamontanes  counseled  remorseless  resistance  and  in- 
frigue  against  the  action  of  a  long-suffering  nation,  and 


338  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

promised  all  the  aid  in  their  power  in  the  further  des- 
perate struggle  which  their  cruel  interference  made  in- 
evitable, in  order  to  reduce  again  to  ecclesiastical  rule 
and  despotism  a  free  people  who  had  just  escaped  from 
both,  after  groaning  under  them  for  three  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  They  even  dared  to  attempt  this  under  the 
eye  of  the  Republican  Government  in  the  capital,  until 
several  of  the  clergy  and  two  of  the  Bishops  (Munguia 
and  L'Cabastida)  had  to  be  banished  by  President  Juarez 
for  conspiracy  against  the  freedom  of  their  country. 
These  traitors  resolved  to  obtain,  if  possible,  the  inter- 
vention of  some  European  power  to  force  a  Spanish 
monarchy  upon  Mexico.  The  religious  enthusiasm  of 
the  Empress  of  the  French  was  enlisted  on  their  behalf, 
and  her  influence  won  over  the  Emperor. 

A  French  intervention  was  determined  upon  under 
the  pretext  of  Miramon's  "  Jecker  Bonds,"  and  the  in- 
vasion took  place  in  1863,  when  it  was  supposed  the 
United  States,  on  account  of  the  civil  war,  could  not 
resist  this  violation  of  their  traditional  policy,  so  clearly 
announced  by  President  Monroe.  The  public  protest 
of  the  President  of  Mexico  against  this  outrage  and  in- 
justice to  his  country  was  contemptuously  flung  aside. 
A  Spanish  monarchy  not  being  practicable,  the  Arch- 
duke of  Austria  was  selected,  and  the  agents  of  the 
hierarchy,  who  pretended  to  represent  the  nation,  per- 
suaded him  that  he  was  the  free  choice  of  the  Mexican 
people  for  their  Emperor.  In  his  simplicity  he  believed 
the  lying  ecclesiastics,  accepted  the  crown  they  offered 
him,  and,  to  his  own  destruction,  landed  at  Vera  Cruz 
May  28,  1864. 

But  his  eyes  gradually  opened  to  the  desperate  service 
which  Rome  expected  him  to  fulfill  for  her,  and  his 
honest  nature  revolted  against  being  made  the  tool  of  a 


Hindera7ices  Removed.  339 

fanatical  and  ignorant  priesthood  to  re-establish,  by  the 
force  of  foreign  bayonets,  a  system  of  ecclesiastical  des- 
potism which  the  nation  had  rejected,  at  the  ccst  of  its 
best  blood  and  much  treasure.  Maximilian  declined 
the  service,  and  sincerely  wished  to  conciliate  the  lib- 
eral party  by  a  constitutional  regimen.  But  he  was  re- 
minded that  the  Pope  had  promised  success  in  the 
name  of  Heaven,  and  permanency  to  his  throne,  and 
that  the  vindication  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in 
Mexico  was  no  part  of  the  business  for  which  he  had 
been  invited  to  assume  the  empire.  A  coldness  be- 
tween him  and  the  hierarchy  was  the  result;  but  for  a 
time  he  was  firm. 

At  length  the  Government  of  Washington,  resolving 
to  vindicate  the  "  Monroe  doctrine,"  that  no  European 
monarchy  shall  extend  itself  to  this  continent,  sent  its 
intimation,  in  a  letter  from  Hon.  William  H.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  in  such 
unmistakable  terms,  that  he  saw  unless  he  recalled  the 
French  troops  from  Mexico  a  rupture  between  France 
and  the  United  States  must  inevitably  take  place.  To 
emphasize  the  letter  General  Sherman  was  ordered  to 
the  Mexican  frontier. 

Marshal  Bazaine  was  at  once  instructed  by  Napoleon 
to  withdraw  the  French  troops  from  Mexico,  and  he  did 
so.  But  the  Emperor  of  Austria  proposed  to  replace 
the  French  with  an  Austrian  army,  and  on  the  23d  of 
April,  1866,  he  was  informed  by  Mr.  Seward  that  upon 
his  doing  so  the  United  States'  Minister,  Mr.  Motley, 
would  at  once  demand  his  passports,  and  the  Austrian 
Embassadoi  at  Washington  would  receive  his.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard declared  that  the  intervention  of  Austria,  or  any 
other  European  power,  would  be  considered  by  our 
Government  a  casus  belli. 


340  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Deserted  by  Napoleon,  who  had  sent  him  to  Mexico, 
and  who  was  unmoved  by  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  the 
beautiful  Carlotta,  who  had  hastened  to  intercede  for 
an  arrest  of  the  evacuation,  Maximilian  saw  the  fearful 
precipice  on  the  brink  of  which  he  was  standing,  and 
soon  prepared  to  depart.  His  baggage  was  forwarded, 
to  be  put  on  board  the  Austrian  frigate  "  Isabel,"  then 
lying  in  the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  he  actually  him- 
self reached  Orizaba,  on  his  way  to  the  coast. 

The  hierarchy  of  Rome  in  Mexico  resolved  upon  a 
desperate  effort  to  save  their  cause.  They  pursued  the 
Emperor  to  Orizaba,  and  entreated  him  to  retain 
the  throne,  promising  him  an  increase  of  his  army,  and 
$20,000,000  for  its  support.  They  induced  him  to  call 
a  council,  the  members  of  which  they  manipulated,  so  as 
to  give  Maximilian  false  representations,  and  inspire  him 
with  delusive  hopes.  The  unfortunate  Emperor  was  per- 
suaded to  return  to  the  capital,  and  renew  the  desperate 
struggle  of  the  clergy  against  the  nation.  His  path  to 
ruin  was  now  direct. 

He  api^ointed  as  commander-in-chief  General  Leon- 
ardo Marquez,  a  miserable  fanatic,  who  had  reveled  in 
the  most  barbarous  cruelties  whenever  he  had  possessed 
power,  and  whose  appellation — "the  Tiger" — was  a  horror 
in  Mexico,  Marquez  surrounded  himself  with  men  of  like 
character  with  himself.  The  appointment  was  associated 
with  the  issue  of  that  awful  decree  of  October  3,  1865, 
which  afterward  operated  against  the  Emperor  himself, 
and  decided  his  fate.  By  this  decree  Maximilian  with- 
drew the  rights  which  the  code  of  war  always  grants  to  an 
enemy,  and  ordered  that  all  in  arms  against  him,  whether 
fighting  or  only  belonging  to  the  band,  or  any  one  who 
ever  gave  or  sold  them  food  or  drink,  or  gave  them 
shelter,  were  to  be  considered  as  traitors,  and  to  be  shot 


Hinderances  Removed.  341 

witliout  mercy  within  twenty-four  hours  of  their  capt- 
ure. No  appeal  was  allowed ;  no  record  of  the  cases  to 
be  made,  except  of  the  execution! 

This  decree  horrified  the  civilized  world.  It  was 
worthy  of  the  inquisitors  of  Puebla  and  Mexico;  men 
who,  like  the  Thugs  of  India,  tortured  and  murdered  in 
the  name  of  God !  It  is  published  that  eleven  thousand 
men  of  every  rank  in  the  Republican  army,  ranging  from 
general  to  common  soldier,  were  thus  shot  in  cold  blood 
after  becoming  prisoners  of  war!  Indeed,  Baron  de 
Lago  puts  the  number  at  forty  thousand.  Baron  d'Ay- 
mard,  who  commanded  the  French  in  Michoacan,  and 
who  surprised  the  camp  of  the  Republican  general,  Reg- 
ulus,  in  his  dispatch  to  Marshal  Bazaine,  stated  that 
his  men  "made  free  use  of  the  bayonet,  and  that  they 
had  taken  no  prisoners  !  " 

General  Arteaga  was  the  first  victim  of  this  sangui- 
nary decree.  He  had  been  twice  governor  of  Queretaro, 
and  held  high  military  command  under  the  President 
of  his  country.  This  honorable  and  venerable  man,  along 
with  General  Salazar  and  a  number  of  other  officers 
taken  in  war,  was  executed  as  a  traitor  and  a  robber; 
and  the  Imperialist  who  shot  them.  Colonel  Mendez, 
was  promoted  for  his  deed,  by  Maximilian,  to  the  rank 
of  general ! 

Maximilian  made  his  stand  at  Queretaro.  The  Re- 
publicans, gaining  strength  each  day,  approached  and 
besieged  him,  as  they  did  the  capital  and  Puebla.  His 
commander-in-chief,  the  infamous  Marquez,  tried  to 
reach  and  relieve  the  latter  city,  but  his  army  was  met 
at  San  Lorenzo,  and  "dashed  to  pieces"  by  Porfirio  Diaz, 
the  present  President,  and  Marquez  escaped  into  the  City 
of  Mexico  with  only  twenty  panic-stricken  followers. 

Then  came  the  fatal  15th  of  May,  1867,  when  Que- 


342  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

retaro  was  taken,  and  Maximilian,  submitting  to  inexo- 
rable fate,  surrendered  himself  and  his  army  to  Gen- 
eral Mariano  Escobedo. 

On  the  1 2th  of  June,  Maximilian  was  placed  on  trial 
before  a  court-martial,  in  conformity  with  the  law  of  the 
25th  of  January,  1862,  and  on  the  14th  he  was  con- 
demned to  die.  Efforts  to  save  his  life  were  ineffectual, 
and  the  sentence  was  carried  out  a  short  distance  be- 
yond the  city  of  Queretaro,  on  the  morning  of  the  19th 
of  June,  1867,  he  being  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 

It  was  maintained  that  the  law  under  which  he  was 
condemned,  as  well  as  the  risk  of  his  enterprise,  must 
have  been  known  to  the  Archduke  previous  to  his  ar- 
rival in  Mexico,  it  being  shown  at  his  trial  that  he  was 
duly  warned  of  the  danger  of  the  enterprise  by  an  agent 
of  the  Constitutional  Government,  Senor  Teran,  who 
went  to  Miramar,  and  pointed  out  fully  to  him  the  fear- 
ful risk  of  his  contemplated  attempt  to  introduce  mon- 
archy or  overthrow  the  republican  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  that  he  was  assured  by  this  gentleman  that 
he  could  find  no  followers  to  sustain  him  when  the  in- 
tervention was  withdrawn,  and  that  the  whole  position 
was  false  as  well  as  dangerous,  and  could  only  result  in 
his  overthrow. 

In  arrest  of  mercy  there  were,  including  that  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State  in  which  he  was  tried,  the  voices 
of  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  thousands  of  victims 
executed  as  traitors  under  his  own  fearful  decree  of 
October  3,  1865,  for  no  other  crime  than  defending 
their  homes  and  the  laws  of  the  land  against  a  for- 
eign invader.  Impartial  and  dispassionate  judgment, 
was  earnestly  demanded  in  his  case,  and  the  Govern- 
ment declined  to  stay  the  course  of  justice,  consider- 
ing the  future  peace  and  unity  of  their  country  unsafe 


Hinderances  Removed.  343 

while  the  Archduke  survived.  He,  or  those  acting  in  his 
name,  would  have  it  in  their  power  to  put  forward  claims 
in  conflict  with  the  existing  Government  and  institutions 
of  Mexico.  His  death  would  close  these  questions  for- 
ever, and  leave  the  country  free  from  embarrassment. 

Nor  was  this  solicitude  without  its  painful  evidence 
at  that  very  hour.  Marquez,  by  Maximilian's  appoint- 
ment, was  governor  of  the  capital,  as  well  as  com- 
mander-in-chief; and  when  Maximilian,  with  all  his 
officers,  surrendered,  and  had  even  sent  to  the  capital 
an  autograph  letter  requesting  that  there  be  no  further 
effusion  of  blood,  instead  of  submitting,  Marquez  pre- 
tended to  disbelieve  the  news  of  Maximilian's  surrender, 
and  refused  to  deliver  up  the  capital,  which  he  knew  he 
had  no  longer  a  legitimate  motive  for  defending.  In- 
stead of  this  he  fabricated  false  news  of  imperialist  vic- 
tories, and  even  ordered  public  rejoicings  to  be  cele- 
brated for  them  in  the  cathedral. 

Though  hundreds  were  dying  daily  around  him  from 
want  and  pestilence,  as  well  as  from  the  shells  of  the 
besiegers,  he  protracted  the  defense  for  thirty-eight 
days  after  his  sovereign  had  surrendered,  and  he  was 
without  a  standard  under  which  to  fight.  This  fanatical 
resistance  and  useless  shedding  of  blood  deepened  the 
convictions  of  the  Republican  Government  that  the  exe- 
cution of  the  sentence  on  Maximilian  was  more  than 
ever  necessary  to  close  these  horrors  and  give  the  cou7i- 
try  rest. 

Baron  de  Lago,  the  Austrian  Embassador,  who  was 
with  Maximilian  in  his  captivity,  declares  that  the  Em- 
peror confessed  to  him  before  his  death  that  he  knew 
how  fearfully  Marquez  had  compromised  him,  and,  also, 
how  indifferent  he  then  was  to  his  fate,  and  pronounced 
him  a  vile  traitor,  and  the  worst  of  men. 


344  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

M.  Stephenson  has  narrated  how  the  monster  Mar- 
quez  was  employed  during  the  siege  which  he  was  pro- 
tracting, extorting  money  from  the  wealthy  Mexicans 
and  the  British  and  foreign  merchants,  without  distinc- 
tion, aiding  his  extortions  by  placing  them  in  positions 
of  danger  from  the  flying  shells,  and  refusing  them  food 
till  the  money  he  demanded  was  paid. 

On  the  morning  of  June  21  General  Porfirio  Diaz 
look  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  at  once  brought  relief  and 
peace  to  the  terrified  and  suffering  people,  who  gladly 
welcomed  him. 

Now  that  resistance  had  ceased  or  been  overcome,  the 
death  of  Maximilian  sufficed.  The  Republican  general 
and  his  Government  desired  no  more  blood.  They  mag- 
nanimously allowed  the  foreign  officers  and  troops  of 
the  fallen  Emperor  to  leave  Mexico  unharmed,  and  even 
furnished  them  the  means  to  do  so.  Marquez,  a  cow- 
ard at  heart,  hid  himself  till  an  opportunity  occurred  to 
enable  him  to  quit  his  country  forever,  and  with  him 
fled  the  last  hope  of  the  political  supremacy  of  Roman- 
ism in  Mexico.  Even  the  exiled  Catholic  Bishops  were 
permitted  to  return,  on  condition,  however,  of  obedience 
to  the  "  Laws  of  Reform,"  though  they  have  since  shown 
how  hard  they  find  it  to  obey  them.  But  the  Govern- 
ment, whatever  section  of  the  liberal  party  may  have 
been  in  power,  has  not  flinched  an  iota  in  the  require- 
ment, knowing  they  are  sustained  by  the  country,  and 
must  enforce  these  laws. 

3.    Retribution. 

It   is  significant  to  note  how  the  "Judge  of  all  the 

earth  "  dealt  with  this  conspiracy  against  the  missionary 

opportunity  and  duty  of  the   United  States  toward  its 

iinmediate  neighbor.     The  courts  of  Rome,  Austria,  and 


Retribution.  345 

France  combined,  aided  by  ecclesiastical  treason  in 
Mexico,  had  not  power  enough  to  crush  that  sad  and 
patient  man,  that  j)ure  patriot,  Juarez,  who,  with  his 
faithful  followers,  were  fighting  against  such  odds  to 
open  their  country  for  the  evangelical  missionaiy. 
Their  aim  was  not  consciously  so  high,  but  they  were 
carried  beyond  themselves,  and  "builded  better  than 
they  knew."  The  Lord  of  hosts  was  with  them,  and 
fought  for  them;  and  upon  their  proud  and  poweiful 
foes  he  brought  down  the  blows  which  dashed  "  them 
in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel." 

Manifest  retribution  soon  overtook  every  one  of  the 
principals  who  had  acted  a  part  in  that  fanatical  and 
wicked  "intervention."  The  Pope,  in  whose  interest  it 
was  all  planned,  soon  after  had  his  "temporal  power 
and  the  States  of  the  Church  "  wrested  from  him,  while 
the  city  of  Rome  was  made  the  capital  of  a  constitu- 
tional monarchy,  with  religious  freedom,  and  the  prompt 
incoming  of  Protestant  missions  to  prove  the  reality  of 
the  wondrous  change.  Austria  was  defeated  by  Italy, 
and  lost  her  Lombardo-Venetian  kingdom,  and  eighty- 
four  thousand  men  in  the  struggle,  and  was  brought  to 
the  very  verge  of  ruin,  from  which  she  saved  herself 
only  by  throwing  her  Concordat  with  the  Pope  over- 
boaid,  and  proclaiming  religious  liberty  for  all  under 
her  flag.  She  had  to  call  to  her  aid  a  Protestant  pre- 
mier (Baron  von  Beust)  to  inaugurate  and  establish 
unexpected  blessings  for  her  people.  Napoleon,  more 
guilty,  was  more  severely  dealt  with.  He  was  crushed 
in  his  pride  by  Germany,  and  sacrificed  both  his  throne 
and  empire,  and  upon  their  ruins  rose  a  Republic  that 
guarantees  true  religious  freedom  to  all  France,  and 
this,   too,  under  the   presiding  genius  of  a  Protestant 

statesman,  M.  Waddington.      Maximilian,  so  sadly  de- 
23 


346  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ceived,  surrendered  his  empire  and  his  life  in  tlie  very 
heart  of  the  country  which  he  came  to  conquer  for 
•Rome  and  her  reactionary  clergy,  while  the  mourning 
widows  of  both  Napoleon  and  Maximilian  are  to-day 
bearing  the  consequences  of  the  sins  of  their  husbands, 
far  from  the  thrones  and  sacerdotal  flatteries  in  which 
they  relied — Eugenie  an  exile  in  a  foreign  land,  and 
poor  Carlotta  was  demented  in  Miramar ! 

4.   Reforms. 

The  immense  church  properties  that  the  hierarchy 
had  erected  at  the  cost,  and  by  the  unrequited  toil,  of 
the  natives,  were  secularized  and  sold  for  the  public 
benefit,  and  only  a  sufficient  number  of  churches  left  in 
their  hands  to  fairly  supply  the  wants  of  existing  congre- 
gations. Monasteries  and  nunneries  were  emptied,  and 
the  occupants  sent  to  earn  their  living  like  other  people. 

The  Congress  of  the  nation  heartily  sustained  their 
President,  and  went  even  beyond  him,  passing  "  Laws 
of  Reform,"  and  requiring  open  and  honest  subscrip- 
tions to  them  by  all  public  functionaries.  Amendments 
and  laws  were  added,  that  relieved  the  nation  of  the 
presence  of  Romish  orders  and  foreign  ecclesiastics,  of 
whose  sincerity  and  loyalty  they  stood  in  doubt.  Be- 
lieving that  nuns,  sisters  of  charity,  and  Jesuits  were  the 
secret  emissaries  of  Rome  in  her  conspiracy  against 
civil  and  religious  freedom,  and  could  not  be  trusted, 
they  expelled  these  orders  as  enemies  of  their  peace,  no 
longer  to  be  tolerated  within  their  territories.  And 
who  that  knows  what  Mexico  had  endured  from  such 
orders,  and  the  hierarchy  of  which  they  are  the  obe- 
dient instruments,  can  wonder  that  her  sons  have  shown 
this  sensitiveness  and  vigilance,  after  such  unparalleled 
sufferings  ? 


Reforms.  347 

The  Mexico  of  to-day  is,  in  one  sense,  more  Protest- 
ant than  any  other  Roman  Catholic  nation;  for,  within 
her  entire  bounds,  there  is  no  avowed  nunnery  or  mon- 
astery, and  neither  monk,  nun,  nor  Jesuit  in  that  pe- 
culiar garb.  Her  priesthood  are  prevented  from  tamper- 
ing with  her  politics  ;  her  own  song,  without  foreign  con- 
trol or  perplexity,  now  guide  her  political  life,  and  vvill, 
no  doubt,  defend  forever  the  religious  freedom  that  they 
have  so  dearly  won.  They  welcome  the  evangelical 
missionary,  and  guarantee  to  him  the  protection  of  their 
constitution  and  laws,  as  he  enters  "the  wide  and  ef- 
fectual door"  which  God  has  so  manifestly  opened  for 
him.  An  opportunity  of  usefulness,  which  transcends 
that  presented  in  any  Catholic  country  on  earth,  is  here 
opened  before  the  Churches  of  the  United  States,  and 
they  will  be  guilty  before  God  if  they  do  not  promptly 
embrace  it,  and  liberally  cultivate  it. 

It  was  under  such  favorable  auspices  that  the  mission 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Republic  of 
Mexico  was  projected,  and  her  first  representative  en- 
tered upon  his  duties. 

S.   Purchase  of  Property. 
Rev.  William  Butler,  D.D.,  of  the  New  England  Con- 
ference, whose  history  in  India  is  already  before  our 
readers,  was  selected  by  Bishop  Simpson  in  November, 

1872,  to  proceed  to  Mexico,  to  open  and  superintend  a 
mission  for  our  Church  in  that  country.  Being,  at  the 
time,  Secretary  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union,  Dr.  Butler  required  a  few  weeks  to  close  his  re- 
lations and  duties  to  that  Society,  and  get  ready  for  his 
departure.  Accompanied  by  a  part  of  liis  family,  the 
superintendent  left  New  York  on  the  6th  of  February, 

1873,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Vera  Cruz,  he  found  the  rail- 


348  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

way  from  that  port  to  the  city  of  Mexico  just  opened, 
and  traveled  by  it  to  that  phice.  There  he  overtook 
Bishop  Haven,  who  had  preceded  him  six  weeks. 
The  Bishop  remained  with  the  superintendent  three 
weeks  more,  and  then  returned  to  the  United  States, 
through  Mexico  and' Texas,  so  as  to  examine  the  coun- 
try, and  report  in  regard  to  the  cities  where  our  missions 
might  best  be  located  to  insure  compactness  and  effi- 
ciency in  the  working  of  the  mission. 

In  addition  to  the  appropriation  made  by  the  General 
Committee  in  November,  the  Hon.  Washington  C.  Do 
Pauw,  a  generous  friend,  had  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Missionary  Society  the  sum  of  $5,000,  to  aid  in  the 
purchase  of  property,  so  that  the  mission  might  secure 
two  or  three  centers  of  operation  in  which  to  commence 
its  work.  This  was  a  great  benefit,  as  the  history  of  the 
mission  shows;  and  its  strength  to-day  is  largely  due  to 
this  fact,  which  enabled  it  to  intrench  itself  strongly  in 
the  capital,  and  in  the  next  leading  city  of  the  Republic, 
and  to  conduct  its  operations  on  its  own  ground  and 
under  its  own  roof,  free  from  the  uncertainty  and  ex- 
pense of  rented  premises. 

The  Bishop  had  visited  Puebla,  and  examined  prop- 
erty there  which  was  formerly  part  of  the  Romish  in- 
quisition. This  property  included  the  chapel,  and  also 
the  cells,  where  the  victims  were  confined,  or  walled-up 
to  die.  On  the  secularization  of  the  church  property  it 
liad  passed  by  purchase  into  the  hands  of  Senor  Adolpho 
Bluinenkronn,  a  Jew,  resident  in  that  city.  The  Bishop 
and  superintendent  visited  Puebla  together,  and  agreed 
upon  the  purchase,  and  for  $10,000  the  premises  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

On  returning  to  the  city  of  Mexico  negotiations  were 


Head-quarters  of  the  Mission  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Calle  de  Gante,  City  of  Mexico. 


Purchase  of  Property.  35 1 

opened  for  the  purchase  of  what  was  called  "  The  Circus 
of  Charini,"  in  the  "  Calle  de  Gante."  Clavijero,  the 
Jesuit  historian  of  Mexico,  (vol.  i,  p.  214,)  states  that 
this  property  stands  on  the  ground  once  occupied  by  the 
palace  of  the  Aztec  sovereign,  Montezuma.  So  that  it 
was  on  this  spot  that  the  impetuous  Cortez  seized  the 
person  of  the  Emperor,  and  in  the  name  of  Charles  V. 
and  the  Pope  confiscated  his  country  and  all  his  treas- 
ures to  the  crown  of  Spain  :  one  of  the  most  glaring 
acts  of  public  robbery  and  wrong  that  the  world  ever 
witnessed.  Without  the  shadow  of  right  from  claim  or 
purchase,  and  only  by  the  terror  of  the  gory  sword  she 
held  in  her  hand,  did  Romanism  thus  seize  and  appro- 
priate this  great  palace,  and  in  it  founded  the  immense 
and  wealthy  Monastery  of  San  Francisco,  for  the  use  of 
the  monks  whom  she  imported,  and  to  whom  was  com- 
mitted the  obligation  of  Romanizing  the  nation  which 
Cortez  had  crushed  and  subdued.  They  held  it  as  their 
head-quarters  for  about  three  hundred  years;  and  such 
was  its  extent,  that  it  was  capable  of  accommodating 
four  thousand  monks  luxuriantly,  on  revenues  and  lands 
wrung  from  a  people,  who,  instead  of  being  elevated  by 
them,  through  education  and  morality,  were  left  in  ig- 
norance and  debasement,  until  at  last  the  heart  of  the 
nation  turned  against  them,  and  swept  them  away  in  a 
fierce  outburst  of  public  indignation. 

The  victorious  President  of  the  Mexican  Republic 
signed  the  decree  that  restored  to  his  race  and  nation 
this  and  all  the  other  property  which  Romanism  had  so 
unjustly  acquired,  and  it  was  sold  to  pay  the  debts 
created  in  the  mighty  struggle  for  freedom,  and  for  the 
promotion  of  the  national  welfare. 

The  immense  premises  of  San  Francisco  were  divided 
into  lots,  and  the  central  "patio"  and  "cloisters,"  and 


352  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

their  surroundings,  including  the  beautiful  court  formed 
of  arches  and  pillars  of  stone  carved  with  wonderful 
elegance  and  taste,  were  sold  to  a  Mexican  gentleman, 
who  disposed  of  them  to  other  parties  by  whom  they 
were  converted  into  a  grand  place  of  public  entertain- 
ment, known  as  the  "Circo  de  Chiarini." 

The  Bishop  and  the  superintendent,  while  trying  to 
obtain  possession  of  these  desirable  premises,  were 
warned  that  they  were  closely  watched  by  the  Catholic 
hierarchy,  who  were  resolved  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the 
premises  from  passing  into  the  hands  of  Protestants. 
The  difficulty  was  increased  by  the  existence  of  a  lease, 
which  had  eighteen  months  to  run,  and  by  the  fact  that 
one  of  the  parties,  whose  signature  was  essential,  was  a 
very  fanatical  Romanist.  The  matter  had  to  be  left  to 
the  superintendent,  who,  after  several  weeks  of  careful 
and  anxious  negotiations,  was  at  last  enabled  to  bring 
the  matter  to  a  safe  conclusion.  The  next  thing  was  to 
effect  such  an  arrangement  with  the  lessee  as  brought 
the  property  into  the  hands  of  the  Missionary  Society. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  acquired  her  title  by 
honest  purchase  from  the  Mexican  people,  through  their 
Government,  at  a  cost  of  ^16,300. 

Four  months  of  hard  toil  transformed  the  costly  court 
from  its  theatrical  condition  into  a  beautiful  church  ;  and 
thus,  on  the  site  of  Montezuma's  paganism  and  the  in- 
stitutions of  Romanism,  evangelical  Methodism  entered 
and  held  the  place  as  the  head-cjuarters  of  her  missions 
in  the  Republic  of  Mexico.  The  church  room  within 
these  premises  was  dedicated  on  Christmas  day,  1873, 
about  six  hundred  persons  being  present. 

The  premises  extend  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
from  front  to  rear,  are  one  hundred  feet  wide,  and  are 
situated  in  the  best  part  of  one  of  the  widest  streets  in 


Purchase  of  Property. 


353 


the  city  of  Mexico  ;  so  that,  besides  the  church  and 
vestries  and  class-rooms,  there  were  a  book-store  and 
printing  establishment,  two  parsonages,  and  a  school- 
room, and,  also,  the  orphanage  and  school  of  the  ladies' 
mission,  and  a  home  for  their  missionary,  with  room  still 


CONVENT    OF   SAN    UOMIaNGO. 


to  spare.     It  formed  one  of  the  most  complete  mission 
establishments  in  the  world. 

On  March  13,  1873,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Carter,  D.D., 
of  the  New  York  Conference,  arrived  in  Mexico  with 
his  family.  Having  a  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  lan- 
guage, the  mission  was  enabled    by  the  close  of  that 


354  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

month  to  commence  divine  service,  and  a  day-school  in 
the  lower  rooms  of  a  house  in  Calle  de  Lopez,  city  of 
Mexico,  while  waiting  to  secure  our  own  premises  and 
church.  Three  persons  from  the  outside  constituted 
our  first  congregation  in  Mexico. 

Puebla  was  again  visited,  and  the  purchase  made  was 
legally  consummated.  The  premises  were  carefully  ex- 
amined to  ascertain  in  what  way  they  could  be  best 
utilized  for  the  purposes  of  a  Christian  mission.  The 
injuries  which  they  had  suffered  from  the  hands  of  the 
army  and  the  people  were  considerable,  so  that  doors, 
windows,  and  even  floor  beams,  had  been  carried  away, 
and  the  place  greatly  wrecked.  But  it  was  seen  that  by 
restoring  them  the  chapel  could  be  made  into  a  neat 
place  of  worship,  capable  of  holding  nearly  two  hun- 
dred people,  while  the  room  below  would  answer  for 
school  purposes,  and  the  apartments  in  a  line  with  it  be 
made  available  for  an  orphanage  or  theological  seminary, 
while  the  rooms  above  could  be  turned  into  a  comfort- 
able parsonage,  thus  meeting  all  the  present  require- 
ments of  our  work  in  this  city. 

The  superintendent  next  visited  the  city  of  Pachuca, 
capital  of  the  State  of  Hidalgo,  the  great  mining  district 
of  that  part  of  the  Republic,  where,  on  March  30,  he 
preached  to  a  congregation  of  English  miners  in  the 
house  of  a  Mr.  Rule.  He  also  found  there  a  small  Mexi- 
can congregation,  which  had  been  collected  by  a  native 
physician  by  the  name  of  Marcelino  Guerrero.  He  en- 
couraged the  good  doctor  in  his  work,  and  aided  him  as 
far  as  he  could,  at  the  same  time  making  arrangements 
to  extend  the  work  to  Real  del  Monte,  where  he  found  a 
few  Mexicans  who  desired  to  be  instructed  in  evangel- 
ical Christianity. 

A  service  in  the  English  language  was  commenced  in 


Purchase  of  Property.  355 

the  capital  on  April  27  for  those  who  spoke  that  tongue. 
This  service  was  held  in  the  chapel  of  San  Andres, 
which  had  been  purchased  by  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  had  been 
kindly  loaned  to  us  by  Bishop  Keener,  pending  the  ar- 
rival of  the  superintendent,  to  be  sent  out  on  the  Bish- 
op's return  to  the  United  States.  Meanwhile  our  su- 
perintendent made  the  repairs  which  the  Bishop  indi- 
cated, and  also  commenced  Spanish  services  in  the 
chapel,  and  so  had  a  little  congregation  to  hand  over 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davis  on  his  arrival. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  quarter  our  statistical  report 
stood — four  Mexican  congregations  in  the  capital,  Pa- 
chuca,  and  Real  del  Monte ;  two  English  services, 
Mexico  and  Pachuca,  with  a  total  attendance  of  130 
Mexicans  and  105  English,  and,  also,  13  day  scholars, 
and  42  Sabbath  scholars.  We  had,  also,  two  class-meet- 
ings, with  an  attendance  of  28  Mexicans  and  English. 

At  the  close  of  April,  1873,  Dr.  Cooper,  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church,  for  many  years  missionary  in  Spain,  who 
had  been  sent  several  months  before  by  the  American 
and  Foreign  Christian  Union  for  Spanish  work,  but  who 
had  been  delayed  at  the  capital  by  the  earnest  desire  of 
the  English-speaking  community,  to  minister  to  them  at 
least  for  a  time,  concluded  to  unite  his  English  congre- 
gation with  ours,  and  give  himself  wliolly  to  Spanish 
work,  in  connection  with  our  missions.  This  raised  the 
united  English  congregation  to  about  sixty  persons,  who 
were  glad  of  the  arrangement,  as  it  promised  a  continu- 
ance of  the  privilege  of  public  worship  for  them.  This 
is  a  most  important  adjunct  to  the  mission,  furnish- 
ing experienced  helpers  for  the  native  work,  giving  it 
strength  and  support,  and  often  aiding  it  with  much- 
needed  funds. 


356  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

6.  Tried  by  Fire. 

The  Romish  hierarchy  was  by  this  time  considerably 
aroused,  and  persecution  began  to  be  developed  where 
the  Papists  thought  they  might  venture  upon  that  course 
They  at  least  wished  to  intimidate  our  missionaries^ 
and  their  converts.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  month  of 
April  the  massacre  at  Capulhuac  occurred,  and  at  once 
the  missionaries  waited  upon  President  Lerdo,  intro- 
duced by  the  United  States  Minister,  Mr.  Nelson,  and 
asked  for  the  protection  which  the  laws  of  Mexico  guar- 
anteed to  all  persons  under  its  flag.  This  was  cordially 
promised. 

Mr.  Carter,  early  in  1874,  decided  to  return  to  the 
United  States  with  his  family,  and  was  allowed  to  do  so 
by  Bishop  Simpson.  This  left  the  superintendent  with 
only  Dr.  Cooper,  feeble  and  uncertain  in  health,  and 
two  native  helpers,  to  carry  on  the  work,  which  was  all 
the  while  extending  and  calling  for  more  men  to  de- 
velop and  guide  it.  Invitations  poured  in  upon  our 
mission  from  various  parts  of  the  country  from  earnest 
inquirers,  who  had  heard  of  our  movements,  urging  us 
to  visit  them  and  preach  the  Gospel,  and  marry  them 
and  baptize  their  children,  and  give  them  the  word  of 
God.  They  declared  themselves  sick  of  Romanism, 
which  crushed  them  down  and  degraded  them  so  deeply. 
It  was  asserted  by  intelligent  Mexican  gentlemen  that 
nearly  half  of  the  people  of  ti^e  land  were  living  without 
lawful  marriage  relations,  and  their  children  growing  up 
in  illegitimacy  and  shame  to  follow  in  the  same  condi- 
tion of  ignorance  and  open  immorality.  This  was  the 
fruit  of  Catholicism  after  an  undisturbed  and  exclusive 
opportunity  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  to  mold  the 
nation  to  its  will. 


Tried  by  Fire.  357 

All  honor  to  the  enlightened  and  noble  men  of  Mexi- 
co, who,  disgusted  with  their  Church  in  the  fearful  ruin 
it  had  thus  brought  on  their  nation,  resolved  before 
God  and  the  world  that  they  would  venture  life  and 
fortune  to  overthrow  this  ecclesiastical  despotism,  and 
lift  the  mass  of  their  degraded  countrymen  from  the 
depth  of  their  misery  to  the  light,  morality,  and  dignity 
of  true  civilization.  By  such  men  our  mission  has  been 
hailed  as  a  welcome  auxiliary.  Of  course,  this  very  fact, 
that  we  have  sympathizers  and  protectors  among  the 
public  men  of  the  liberal  party,  intensifies  the  dislike  of 
the  hierarchy  to  our  missionaries  and  their  converts,  and 
this  degraded  clergy  have  only  lately  begun  to  learn,  for 
their  own  sakes,  the  importance  of  letting  them  alone, 
and  ceasing  to  stain  the  Church  of  Rome  with  more 
Protestant  blood. 

Toward  the  close  of  1873  the  Romish  clergy  were 
peculiarly  excited  and  sanguinary  in  their  disposition. 
Intimidation  was  tried  and  threats  made.  On  De- 
cember 9  Dr.  Ramirez,  of  Mexico  City,  informed  our 
superintendent,  for  the  second  time,  that  he  had  posi- 
tive information  of  the  formation  of  a  society  of  Romish 
fanatics,  who  had  marked  out  for  assassination  nine  of 
the  leading  Protestants  of  that  city,  (the  superintendent 
and  our  other  missionaries  being  in  the  number.)  Sim- 
ilar purposes  were  formed,  and  even  carried  out,  else- 
where, as  the  brutal  midnight  murder  of  Mr.  Stephens, 
of  the  Congregational  Mission,  and  his  native  preacher, 
at  Ahualulco,  shows,  which  occurred  soon  after  the 
above  intimation  was  given.  Then  came  the  assault  on 
and  wounding  some  of  our  own  people,  and  the  burn- 
ing of  our  church  at  Mixcoac,  which  were  followed  on 
January  26,  1875,  by  the  horrible  assassination  (in  their 
chapel,  and  during  public  worship)  of  nine  of  the  Prot- 


358  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

estant  congregation  of  Acapulco,  on  which  occasion  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hutchinson,  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  would 
have  shared  the  same  fate  had  he  not  been  able  to  es- 
cape out  of  the  fearful  scene  and  obtain  refuge  on  board 
the  United  States  ship  of  war  then  in  the  harbor. 

Nor  is  this  all :  the  spirit  of  Mexican  Catholicism 
at  this  time  is  fully  shown  by  the  deadly  assault  on  the 
Rev,  M.  Phillips  in  Queretaro,  the  violence  attempted 
on  our  own  missions  in  Guanajuato  and  Puebla,  with 
the  plundering  of  some  of  our  places  of  worship,  and 
the  murder  of  several  of  the  native  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  missions  in  the  stations  near  the  city  of 
Mexico.  These,  and  others  that  might  be  mentioned, 
all  occurred  during  a  space  of  a  few  months. 

At  length  the  public  papers  of  the  country  took  up 
the  matter  in  concert,  and  gave  forth  their  denuncia- 
tions of  these  religious  murders  and  outrages  by  Romish 
fanatics,  and  boldly  held  the  Church  responsible  for  the 
deeds  done  in  her  name  and  by  her  people.  One  sen- 
tence from  the  Catholic  Archbishop,  Labastida,  would 
have  stopped  it  all ;  but,  so  far  as  we  know,  he  never 
uttered  it,  nor  did  any  of  his  suffragans  or  clergy. 

One  of  our  American  poets  has  lately  said,  "  Woe  be 
to  the  Church  which  mingles  human  blood  with  her  wine 
of  sacrament,  and  breaks  the  peace  of  God  among  men.' 
This  "woe"  fully  applies  here,  also,  and  the  Romish 
Church  of  Mexico  has  the  guilt  and  stain  of  some 
twenty  recent  murders  of  evangelical  Christians  upon 
her  conscience,  and  must  yet  answer  to  God  for  every 
one  of  them. 

For  the  present  these  crimes  and  cruelties  had 
ceased.  Some  years  had  elapsed  since  the  last  assas- 
sination took  place.  The  Catholic  hierarchy  saw  these 
did  not  pay.     The  public  denunciations  and  the  vigi- 


Tried  by  J'lre.  36 1 

lance  of  tlie  magistracy,  and,  as  we  understand,  the 
serious  representations  made  by  our  Government  to 
that  of  Mexico,  had  all  placed  the  life  of  American 
missionaries  iii  such  estimation  and  care  that  all  the 
protection  guaranteed  by  Mexican  law  and  our  treaty 
rights  were  now  extended  to  our  missionaries  by  the  en- 
lightened Government  of  tlie  country  and  its  subordi- 
nates, and  they  are  allowed  to  labor  in  peace.  Yet 
they  recognized  that  they  had  "  dwelt  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty,"  and  were  more  indebted  to  the  holy 
providence  of  their  divine  Master  for  their  i:)reserva- 
tion  than  to  any  human  arm  whatever. 

7.  Puebla. 

After  anxious  waiting  for  the  help  which  our  growing 
work  so  much  required,  two  young  missionaries  (C.  W. 
Drees  and  J.  W.  Butler,  son  of  the  superintendent) 
reached  Mexico  May  9,  1874.  After  they  had  devoted 
some  Months  to  the  language,  in  January,  1875,  Puebla 
was  occupied  by  Mr.  Drees. 

This  city  is  known  as  Puebla  de  los  Angeles — Puebla 
of  the  Angels.  There  is  a  legend  that  during  the  build- 
ing of  the  cathedral  of  the  city  the  angels  descended 
each  night  and  raised  the  walls  as  much  higher  as  the 
workmen  had  built  them  during  the  day,  hence  the  des- 
ignation. The  city  has  seventeen  cotton  mills,  several 
glass  factories,  very  many  flour  mills,  and  rivals  the  city 
of  Mexico  itself  in  the  number  and  riches  of  its  religious 
estal)lishments.  At  one  time  nineteen  twentieths  of  the 
real  estate  of  the  city  belonged  to  the  Church,  which 
became  landlord,  employer,  banker,  and  money  lender 
to  a  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants.  Naturally 
Puebla  became  a  proverb  of  fanatical  devotion  to  Rome, 

and  its  masses  were  but  slowly  affected  bv  the  recent 
2i 


362         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

reform  and  liberal  movements  of  the  nation.  In  1873 
an  attempt  was  made  by  Dr.  Riley  to  establish  a  Frot- 
eftant  congregation  in  the  city,  but  a  mob  assailed  the 
chapel  on  the  first  Sabbath,  dispersed  the  congregation, 
and  compelled  the  preacher  to  fly  for  life.  Several  of 
the  congregation  were  wounded,  the  books  were  burned, 
and  the  station  abandoned. 

Rev.  Christopher  Ludlow,  a  local  preacher  and  a 
practical  builder,  accompanied  Mr.  Drees  to  Puebla,  to 
direct  the  work  of  refitting  the  buildings.  They  arrived 
on  the  13th  day  of  January,  1875.  A  few-  days  later, 
Doroteo  Mendoza,  a  Bible  colporteur  in  the  employ  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  arrived,  and  placed  himself 
under  direction  of  the  missionary. 

The  first  two  Sabbaths  in  Puebla  passed  without 
service.  The  missionary,  before  he  left  Mexico,  had 
been  warned  against  coming,  and  all  the  acquaintances 
he  had  formed  in  Puebla  insisted  that  the  enterprise  was 
perilous  and  hopeless.  The  necessity  of  prudent  but 
firm  measures  was  apparent.  A  few  persons,  supposed 
to  be  favorable  to  our  cause,  were  invited  to  the  private 
rooms  of  the  missionary  on  the  following  Sunday,  but 
such  was  their  fear  that  only  two  responded  to  the  call. 
So  with  these,  and  Messrs.  Ludlow  and  Mendoza,  Mr. 
Drees  prayed  and  read  the  sixtieth  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
and  talked  about  the  Master's  work.  The  next  Sunday, 
Mr.  Drees  being  absent,  having  gone  to  Orizaba  on  a 
special  errand  for  the  mission,  the  service  was  repeated. 
From  Orizaba  Mr.  Drees  went  to  Mexico  City,  and,  on 
February  i8th,  returned  to  Puebla  with  the  fifteen  boys 
composing  the  Boys'  Orphanage.  Such  was  the  condi- 
tion of  the  orphans  in  Mexico  City  that  their  removal 
seemed  an  imperative  necessity,  and  to  accommodate 
them  Mr.  Drees  moved  into  a  more  commodious  house, 


Puebla,  363 

in  the  Calle  de  Estanco  de  Hombres,  where  he  remained 
until  the  end  of  April,  when  the  Mission  House,  though 
still  in  a  very  unfinished  condition,  was  occupied.  Dur- 
ing this  time  the  services  became  somewhat  noised 
abroad,  and  the  attendance  increased  to  about  twenty, 
besides  the  orphanage  and  employes  of  the  mission.  At 
the  same  time  the  presence  of  the  missionaries  became 
known  to  their  enemies,  and  the  air  was  full  of  threats 
to  burn  down  the  house  over  their  heads,  etc  Witli 
this  pretext  the  owner  of  the  rented  house  endeavored, 
but  in  vain,  to  eject  the  missionary. 

That  portion  of  the  Mission  House  intended  for  occu- 
pancy as  a  chapel  was  still  unfinished,  and  the  mis- 
sionary was  compelled  to  hold  meetings  in  a  small 
school-room,  thirty  by  fifteen  feet.  Singing  was  now 
introduced  into  the  services,  the  doors  thrown  open,  and 
the  public  invited  to  attend.  On  the  first  day  of  service 
after  this  manner  an  immense  mob  filled  the  market-place 
before  the  door  of  the  place  of  worship,  and  assailed 
them  with  curses,  and  threats,  and  an  occasional  stone. 
But  at  midday  a  heavy  shower  came  up  and  dispersed 
the  crowd,  in  time  to  let  the  congregation  go  home  to 
dinner  in  safety.  The  congregation  increased  so  that 
the  little  school-room  became  packed  almost  to  suffoca- 
tion. Work  was  recommenced  on  the  chapel-room,  and  it 
was  soon  finished,  affording  a  room  forty-five  by  twenty- 
five  feet,  in  wliich  the  services  were  held  for  years. 

On  August  15,  1875,  it  was  dedicated  in  the  presence 
of  a  congregation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hun- 
dred persons.  Rev.  C.  W.  Drees  preached  in  the  morning, 
and  Rev.  J.  W.  Butler  at  night.  At  the  first  sacrament- 
al occasion  one  hundred  persons  devoutly  partook  of  the 
sacred  emblems.  At  the  time  of  the  dedication  of  the 
chapel  the  first  steps  were  taken  which  led  to  the  estab- 


364  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

lishment  of  the  Theological  Training  Class,  which  was 
not  fully  inaugurated  until  January,  1876.  At  this  time, 
also,  was  begun  the  enrollment  of  probationers,  the  first 
of  whom,  to  the  number  of  sixteen,  including  the  theo- 
logical students  and  the  school-teacher  and  family,  were 
received,  all  of  whom  were  admitted  into  full  connection 
on  April  16,  1876. 

The  congregations  maintained  at  this  time  an  attend- 
ance of  about  one  hundred  constant  hearers.  Early  in 
1876  Mr.  Mendoza  was  removed  to  Mexico  City.  On 
August  20,  1875,  C.  Ludlow  had  been  transferred  to 
Pachuca. 

Up  to  that  time,  and  even  to  the  present,  the  mission 
had  been  subject  to  the  most  virulent  abuse  from  the 
Romish  press,  and  all  connected  with  it  to  frequent  in- 
sult and  occasional  acts  of  violence.  These  last  reached 
their  climax  on  Shrove  Tuesday,  1877,  when  a  large 
mob  attacked  the  Mission  House,  but,  being  unable  to 
effect  an  entrance,  at  last  retired.  1876  was  the  year  of 
revolution,  and  there  was  a  somewhat  decreased  average 
attendance;  but  none  of  the  services  were  interrupted, 
and  many  of  the  members  manifested  a  courage  worthy 
the  age  of  martyrs.  Both  the  Lerdo  and  the  Diaz  Gov- 
ernments showed  every  disposition  to  extend  to  them 
the  protection  guaranteed  by  the  laws  of  the  land. 

The  exterior  of  the  Mission  House,  which  had  re- 
mained in  an  unfinished  condition,  greatly  to  the  injury 
of  the  work,  for  nearly  two  years,  was  completed  early 
in  1877.  The  entire  expenditure  in  refitting  the  edifice, 
from  the  beginning  of  1875  to  the  present,  had  been, 
approximately,  $5,500.  One  large  room,  very  necessary 
to  the  adequate  accommodation  of  the  work,  was  un- 
finished. 

The  status  of  the  Puebla  mission  in  1878  may  be 


Puehla.  365 

to  some  extent  indicated  by  the  following  statistics  : 
Members  in  full  connection,  73  ;  probationers,  60.  Sun- 
day-school teachers,  3  ;  scholars,  40.  Boys'  Orphanage, 
inmates,  19  ;  boarding  pupils,  2.  Day  school  scholars, 
including  orphans,  41.  Subscribers  to  '''El  Abogado 
Cristiaiio,'"  150;  to  "'  El  Heraido,"  of  Toluca,  t,6. 

The  work  of  this  circuit  promised  to  extend  its  influ- 
ence to  the  Indian  villages  about  it.  From  San  Pablo 
del  Monte  there  were  in  the  school  two  boarding  pupils 
and  the  way  is  opening  for  the  establishment  of  work 
in  that  village,  which  was  six  miles  north  from  Puebla. 
From  Atzala  and  Santiago  Tochimilco  frequent  delega- 
tions have  been  sent  to  invite  us  thither.  In  Los  Reye 
the  native  Indians  were  building  their  own  school  and 
church,  expecting  the  missionaries  soon  to  carry  them 
the  bread  of  life.  San  Juan  and  San  Salvador  were  mak- 
ing straight  the  paths  for  the  coming  of  their  Lord.  A 
bright  future  seemed  before  Puebla. 

8.  Miraf lores. 

The  way  was  opened  into  Miraflores  early  in  1874. 
The  people  living  here  were  intelligent,  well  to  do,  and 
ready  to  welcome  the  Gospel.  The  first  jireaching-place 
was  a  room  behind  a  store,  but  the  wife  of  the  owner  was 
not  favorable  to  the  service,  and  took  opportunity  to 
annoy  the  twenty  persons  or  more  who  met  to  worship 
God  by  feeding  her  pigs  and  poultry  just  outside  of  the 
door  during  the  service,  so  that  the  attempts  made  at 
singing  were  often  mingled  with  the  squealing  of  the 
pigs  as  they  contended  over  their  food.  A  small  room 
in  a  better  location  was  obtained,  but  it  was  too  secluded 
to  answer  the  purpose. 

Through  all  these  circumstances  the  workers  were 
encouraged  by  a  devoted  Christian  lady  to  hope  for  bet- 


366  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ter  things,  and  on  her  death-bed  she  arranged  that  $500 
be  given  toward  the  erection  of  a  little  church,  and  her 
husband  added  a  large  piece  of  ground  as  his  gift. 
Every  member  of  the  congregation  contributed  toward 
the  erection,  from  ten  cents  up  to  ten  dollars,  and  a 
beautiful  church,  the  first  regular  Protestant  church 
ever  erected  in  Mexico,  with  bell,  organ,  and  all  requi- 
sites, was  finished.  It  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Merrill 
and  Dr.  Dashiell  on  Sunday,  the  6th  of  February,  1878. 
A  parsonage  for  the  missionary  stood  on  one  side  of 
the  church,  and  another  for  his  native  preacher  on  the 
other  side,  all  being  inclosed  by  a  neat  wall — a  credit 
to  Protestantism  and  to  the  Missionary  Society. 

Miraflores  was  the  head  of  a  circuit  having  six  appoint- 
ments, and  at  this  time  was  being  efficiently  worked  by 
Rev.  S.  W.  Siberts,  with  the  aid  of  two  native  preachers. 

It  is  a  somewhat  singular  fact  that  Dr.  Butler  had 
thus  had  the  honor  of  erecting  the  two  places  of  wor- 
ship highest  on  earth,  belonging  to  the  Methodist  (or 
probably  any  other)  Church  ;  namely,  the  one  at  Nynee 
Tal,  in  India,  at  an  elevation  of  about  6,429  feet,  and 
this,  at  Miraflores,  at  about  7,800  feet. 

9.  Orizaba. 

Dr.  Cooper's  health  requiring  a  change  to  a  warmer 
climate  and  a  less  attenuated  atmosphere,  and  he  being 
unwilling  to  return  while  he  could  labor  anywhere  in 
the  mission,  it  was  advised  by  his  physicians  that  he 
be  removed  four  thousand  feet  lower,  to  the  city  of 
Orizaba.  In  the  upper  story  of  an  old  convent,  at  this 
place,  he  commenced  and  carried  on  religious  services. 
It  was  the  only  place  that  could  then  be  obtained,  on 
account  of  the  bigotry  of  the  people.  For  many  months 
the  doctor  was  exposed  to  the  annoyance  of  the  poor, 


Orizaba.  367 

ignorant  people,  who  looked  on  him,  in  consequence  of 
the  wicked  representations  of  the  Catholic  priesthood, 
as  an  object  to  be  hated  and  shunned  He  was  hooted 
at  and  stoned  in  the  street,  but  he  endured  all  patiently, 
and  labored  on,  till  at  length  his  health  utterly  broke 
down,  and  he  had  to  return  home,  as  there  was  no 
further  prospect  that,  at  his  age,  his  ailments  would 
yield  to  successful  treatment  in  the  climate  of  Mexico. 

10.  Guanajuato. 

The  Missionary  Society  strengthened  the  hands  of 
the  Mexican  missionaries  early  in  1876,  by  sending  two 
more  young  missionaries,  Messrs.  Samuel  P.  Graver  and 
S.  W,  Siberts.  This  enabled  the  superintendent  to  oc- 
cupy the  important  city  of  Guanajuato,  about  three 
hundred  miles  north  of  the  capital.  On  the  9th  of 
February  the  Rev.  Samuel  P.  Graver  and  his  wife  en- 
tered upon  their  labors  in  that  city.  It  contains  sev- 
enty thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  the  metropolis  of  a 
State,  one  of  the  most  central  in  the  Mexican  Republic, 
and  reputed  the  richest,  owing  to  its  extensive  silver 
mines,  and  the  beautiful  agricultural  region  within  it, 
known  as  the  Bajio  de  Leon. 

Prior  to  the  year  1876  the  cause  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity had  obtained  no  foothold  in  the  city.  The  agent 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  had,  indeed, 
visited  the  place  some  years  before  and  established  a 
Bible  depository,  and  quite  a  large  number  of  Bibles 
and  religious  books  had  been  sold,  and  many  of  the 
people  had  lost  faith  in  Romanism.  Also,  two  or  three 
years  previous,  one  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Presby- 
terian Board,  Rev.  Maxwell  Phillips,  visited  the  place, 
and  remained  a  few  days  distributing  tracts,  and  feel- 
ing the  religious  pulse,  but   for  some   reason  did  not 


368  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

commence  services.  When  the  present  missionaries 
came  to  the  field  it  was,  irx  fact,  a  virgin  soil.  They 
were  accompanied  by  Superintendent  Butler  and  wife, 
and  in  a  few  days  secured  a  house  at  No.  33  Calle  de 
Belen,  to  be  used  both  for  chapel  and  parsonage. 

The  English  residents  received  the  new-comers  cor- 
dially, but  presented  very  dark  views  of  Guanajuato  as 
a  field  for  missionary  labor.  All  prophesied  failure,  de- 
feat, and  probable  death 

On  February  13  the  ministers  were  introduced  to  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  General  Florencio  Antillon,  by 
Mr.  J.  H.  Glass.  The  interview  was  very  pleasant  and 
satisfactory,  the  superintendent  presenting  a  letter,  in 
which  he  formally  set  forth  the  object  of  the  work,  and 
the  methods  to  be  used  in  its  prosecution,  and  asked 
such  protection  as  the  laws  guaranteed.  The  Governor 
responded  heartily,  and,  in  addition  to  a  promise  of  pro- 
tection, expressed  his  gratification  with  the  proposed 
establishment  of  Protestantism  in  the  city. 

The  presence  of  the  missionaries  in  the  city  soon  be- 
came well  known,  and  many  persons  visited  them  to 
receive  tracts,  or  to  make  capital  out  of  their  ignorance 
of  the  language  of  the  people. 

The  distribution  of  tracts  thus  begun  soon  awakened 
quite  a  sensation.  The  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  Jose 
Maria  de  Jesus  Diaz  de  Sollano  y  Davalos,  visited  the 
city,  and,  after  an  examination  of  the  situation,  issued  a 
diocesan  edict.  This  was  published  in  all  churches  on 
Sunday,  March  12.  The  effect  was  very  marked  in  the 
more  manifest  hostility  of  the  people.  On  Friday,  17th, 
a  man,  dispatched  from  the  Mission  House  to  sell  some 
copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  tracts  in  the  street,  was  at- 
tacked by  a  mob,  and,  being  taken  by  the  police  to  the 
Mission   House,  was   followed   thither  by   the   enraged 


Guanajuato.  369 

populace.  Mrs.  Graver  was  alone  at  the  time.  Mr. 
Graver  on  his  return,  accompanied  by  two  friends,  found, 
much  to  his  surprise,  the  street  in  front  of  the  house 
filled  with  an  angry  multitude.  They,  however,  went 
forward  and  entered  the  house  in  safety,  although  they 
had  to  pass  through  the  mob  for  some  distance. 

The  police  guarded  the  door,  but  made  no  attempt  to 
disperse  the  mob.  About  eight  o'clock  in  the  evenii  g 
suddenly  the  air  was  filled  with  yells,  and  a  volley  of 
stones  crashed  against  the  door  and  windows,  and  a 
desperate  effort  was  made  to  enter  the  house.  But  at 
that  moment  an  order  from  the  Governor  reached  the 
chief  of  police,  telling  him  that  if  he  did  not  disperse 
the  mob  within  ten  minutes  the  troops  would  be  or- 
dered out.  The  police  presented  themselves  in  force, 
and  the  mob  was  driven  off.  According  to  the  testi- 
mony of  the  commander  of  police,  three  priests  were  in 
the  mob,  but  the  chief  would  not  permit  their  arrest, 
being  himself  in  sympathy  with  the  mob.  The  mission- 
aries suffered  no  personal  harm,  and,  with  thankful  hearts, 
poured  forth  their  praises  to  God  for  his  loving  provi- 
dence in  their  complete  preservation. 

On  March  30  the  Mexican  preachers  sent  by  Dr 
Butler,  namely,  Francisco  Aguilar  and  Jesus  Ramirez, 
reached  Guanajuato,  and  it  was  determined  to  begin 
services  at  once.  On  April  1  the  Governor  was  in- 
formed that  public  worship  was  to  be  held  the  following 
day.  A  few  friends  were  advised  of  the  meeting,  which 
was  to  be  held  in  the  parlor  of  the  Mission  House  on 
Sunday,  April  2,  at  half-past  ten  o'clock. 

It  was  a  beautiful  morning,  and  every  heart  in  the 
Mission  House  throbbed  with  anxiety.  It  was  the  first 
public  attempt  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  city.  About 
the  hour  designated  twelve  men  assembled,  and,  without 


370  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

singing,  the  service  was  commenced,  Senor  Aguilai 
preached  a  plain,  practical  sermon  from  the  text,  "  Go 
ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel,"  etc. 
After  the  sermon  Sunday-school  was  held,  the  Berean 
Lesson  for  that  day  being  "The  Ascending  Lord." 
Nothing  of  an  unpleasant  character  occurred,  and  all 
gave  thanks  to  God  for  the  propitious  opening.  In  the 
evening  thirty  persons  were  present,  including  a  few 
women,  all  of  whom  seemed  intensely  interested,  and 
the  effect  of  the  service  was  excellent.  That  night  the 
missionaries  poured  forth  new  songs  of  gratitude  for  the 
excellent  prospects.  Services  were  then  held  on  Thurs- 
day evening,  and  twice  the  following  Sunday,  with  con- 
stantly increasing  attendance. 

On  Monday,  April  lo,  S.  W.  Siberts,  wife,  and  child 
arrived,  and  were  heartily  welcomed.  That  being  "  holy 
week,"  special  services  were  held,  the  Lord's  Supper 
being  celebrated  on  Thursday  evening.  The  third  week 
the  house  became  too  small  to  accommodate  the  grow- 
ing congregation,  and  a  new  place  was  sought.  A  large 
hall  belonging  to  the  Governor,  used  formerly  as  a  dance 
hall,  and  later  as  a  coach-house,  was  secured,  and  on 
April  23  was  opened  for  services.  The  hall  being  some- 
what retired  from  the  center,  and  the  locality  not  very 
reputable,  the  increase  in  attendance  was  not  large. 
Still  a  steady  congregation  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  was  maintained  for  several  months,  until  the  alarms 
incident  to  the  growing  revolution  caused  the  numbers 
to  diminish  somewhat.  In  June  the  registry  of  proba- 
tioners was  commenced,  and  quite  a  large  number  were 
received,  which  the  fires  of  persecution  and  the  rigid 
morality  required  of  them  greatly  reduced  before  many 
months  had  passed. 

On  August  19  the  first  Quarterly  Conference  was  con' 


GuanaJ7taio.  371 

vened  by  the  pastor,  and  Senor  Simon  Loza,  a  young 
convert,  was  licensed  as  a  local  [)reacher.  Senor  Loza 
at  once  commenced  to  preach,  showing  considerable 
ability  and  a  thorough  devotion  to  the  work. 

Mr.  Siberts  had  hired  a  house  in  Leon,  a  neighboring 
city,  and  visited  the  place  several  times  with  the  object 
of  establishing  a  station  there.  Senor  Mendoza  was 
designated  temporarily  to  that  field.  The  results  of  his 
work  there  were  encouraging,  but  the  diminution  of  the 
appropriation  for  the  following  year  made  it  necessary 
to  abandon  it. 

On  October  31,  amid  the  excitement  incident  to  the 
pronunciamento  of  Senor  J.  M.  Iglesias  against  the 
Government  of  Lerdo,  the  Mission  House  was  again 
attacked  by  an  infuriated  and  drunken  mob  of  several 
thousand  men.  It  was  a  repetition  of  the  former  scene, 
only  the  assault  was  more  furious,  and  longer  continued. 
The  two  missionaries  barricaded  the  door  with  adobes, 
while  their  wives  cheered  them  and  consoled  the  nurse- 
girls  by  singing, 

'  I  need  Thee  every  hour." 

The  energy  of  the  police,  aided  by  a  detachment  of 
soldiers,  again  delivered  the  messengers  of  peace  from 
the  relentless  fury  of  those  they  came  to  save. 

On  February  4,  1877,  the  first  members  were  received 
into  full  connection.  Among  the  ten  received  on  thai 
occasion  was  Dolores  Rodriquez,  one  of  the  women 
who  attended  the  first  Sunday  evening  service,  and  who 
for  over  one  year  never  missed  a  single  service — a  woman 
of  rare  excellence  and  fidelity. 

In  the  latter  part  of  February  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Butler 
again  visited  the  mission,  and  Senor  Aguilar  was  re- 
moved to  Cordova,  and  the  two  missionary  families  were 
separated,  taking  each  a  small  house.     During  this  visit 


372  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Dr.  Butler  preached  the  first  Engliiih  sermon  ever  de- 
livered in  Guanajuato.  The  work  now  seemed  to  le- 
ceive  new  impetus,  and  the  congregation  grew  in  size 
and  interest  under  the  preaching  of  the  missionaries, 
who  were  now  able  to  use  with  more  or  less  effect  the 
language  of  the  country.  The  work  also  assumed  a 
more  spiritual  aspect  from  that  time. 

As  early  as  June,  1876,  children  were  brought  forward 
for  baptism,  the  first  being  Moses  Rodriguez,  son  of 
Mrs.  Dolores  Rodriguez.  But  to  secure  the  consent  of 
the  believers  to  comply  with  their  civil  duties  in  respect 
to  marriage  was  found  to  be  very  difficult.  Many  were 
married  by  the  Roman  Church  alone,  and  had  been 
taught  to  despise  civil  marriage  as  against  God  ;  others, 
on  account  of  poverty,  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  the 
funds  necessary  for  a  respectable  ceremony.  How- 
ever, in  March,  1877,  one  couple,  who  had  been  married 
three  years  before  by  the  Church,  complied  with  the 
law,  and  were  also  married  by  the  Protestant  service  on 
March  15,  and  were  then  received  into  full  membership. 
One  of  the  conditions  of  membership  had  been  befoie 
declared  to  be  the  compliance  with  this  civil  duty 
The  first  thus  married  were  Candelario  Arteaga  and 
Luz  Granada.  Afterward  others  followed  their  exam- 
ple. In  the  latter  part  of  April  a  letter  from  Dr.  Butler 
announced  the  necessity  of  the  separation  of  Mr.  Siberts 
from  this  work  to  take  charge  of  the  building  of  a  new 
church  in  Miraflores.  As  soon  as  possible  he  made  ar- 
rangements for  the  departure,  and  about  the  middle  of 
May  himself  and  family  bade  adieu  to  Guanajuato  and 
the  other  missionary  family,  leaving  the  latter  in  the 
greatest  distress  because  of  the  severe  illness  of  their 
little  Olive,  the  first  missionary  child  born  in  Mexico. 
On   May  31    the   Lord   took  her  to  himself.      On  the 


Guanajuato.  373 

evening  of  June  i,  but  after  the  burial,  Rev.  J.  AV.  But- 
ler arrived,  to  visit  and  aid  temporaril)  in  the  work  of 
this  station.  His  visit  was  very  timely,  and  of  great 
comfort  to  the  afflicted  missionaries,  while  his  preach- 
ing and  intercourse  with  the  people  were  of  great 
spiritual  good  to  the  congregation.  During  his  stay, 
on  the  loth  of  June,  the  first  love-feast  was  held,  at- 
tended by  about  sixty  persons.  It  was  a  most  precious 
and  heart-cheering  occasion  to  the  missionaries,  as  they 
heard  and  saw  the  manifestation  of  God's  saving  grace 
on  those  for  whom  they  had  labored  and  prayed.  Mr. 
Butler  returned  to  Mexico  on  the  14th,  but  the  effects 
of  his  visit  long  remained. 

On  July  6  the  first  Board  of  Stewards  of  the  Church 
was  organized,  consisting  of  Sister  Dolores  Rodriguez, 
Sinores  Pablo  del  Rio,  Francisco  Delgado,  Casiano 
Gareca,  and  Juan  Lots,  with  Simon  Loza,  the  native 
preacher,  as  secretary.  About  this  time  the  new  curata 
of  the  Roman  Church,  Presbitero  Perfecto  Amezquita. 
commenced  a  very  active  persecution,  producing  dimi- 
nution of  the  number  of  attendants  upon  the  Protestant 
services.  Still  about  one  hundred  remained  faithful  in 
attendance,  while  many  more  secretly  accepted  the  evan- 
gelical doctrines.  In  July,  also,  the  congregation  com- 
menced to  contribute  toward  the  expenses  of  the  work, 
the  first  month's  collection  being  $7  62.  During  these 
months  '  El  Abogado  Cristiano,"  the  mission  paper,  ob 
tained  a  circulation  of  over  one  hundred  and  twenty 
subscribers  in  the  city,  being  larger  than  that  of  any 
other  paper  from  the  City  of  Mexico.  Steady  advance 
was  made  in  spirituality.  A  day-school,  begun  February, 
1877,  under  the  direction  of  Seiior  Loza,  continued  with 
good  success  until  the  close  of  the  school  year.  There 
was  an  average  attendance  of  twenty  boys  and  girls. 


374  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

1 1 .  Sundry  Matters. 

Bishop  Merrill  and  Corresponding  Secretary  Dr.  Rob- 
ert L.  Dashiell  inspected  the  entire  work  in  Mexico  early 
in  1878.  These  official  visitors  were  accompanied  by 
Thomas  W.  Price,  Esq.,  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers of  the  Missionary  Society,  and  a  deeply  interested 
observer  of  the  work.  Bishop  Merrill,  in  his  repo-^t  to 
the  Church  of  what  he  saw  in  Mexico,  gives  a  most 
pitiable  view  of  the  condition  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people.  He  beheld  the  impress  of  Romanism  every- 
where :  in  gorgeous  cathedrals  and  squalid  homes ;  in 
scanty  and  defective  literature ;  in  the  absence  of  all 
great  gatherings  of  the  people  or  discussions  of  great 
pending  questions;  in  the  existing  oppressive  system  of 
peonage,  and  the  antiquated  style  of  agriculture;  in  the 
reigning  superstitions ;  in  the  absence  of  the  Gospel 
even  from  the  pulpits;  and  in  the  crying  evils  of  the 
land.     His  report  concludes  as  follows  : — 

"We  have  in  all  seventeen  congregations  in  Mexico. 
Each  has  a  history  of  its  own,  and  each  is  developing 
what  appears,  under  the  strictest  scrutiny,  to  be  genuine 
Christian  experiences.  We  are  preaching  the  Gospel 
regularly  to  from  two  thousand  to  twenty-five  hundred 
people,  and  reaching  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  many 
more  We  have  several  hundred  children  under  train- 
ing in  day  and  Sunday-schools,  and  we  are  circulating 
religious  tracts  and  books  and  papers  far  beyond  the 
range  of  our  congregations  and  the  reach  of  our  minis- 
try. We  have  seven  English-speaking  missionaries  reg- 
ularly employed,  and  ten  Mexican  preachers,  besides  a 
few  local  preachers.  The  ladies  have  two  representa- 
tives— one  in  the  Orphanage  in  Mexico,  and  one  teach- 
ing school  in   Pachuca.     In  Guanajuato  Brother  S.  P 


Sundry  Matters.  375 

Graver  and  wife  are  doing  heroic  service  with  grand 
success.  In  Orizaba  Brother  R,  Stephens  is  working 
under  the  disadvantage  of  a  poor  and  unsuitable  house, 
but  in  an  open  and  fruitful  field.  In  Pachuca  Rev.  C. 
Ludlow  is  doing  well,  having  a  circuit  of  four  appoint- 
ments. Brother  Siberts,  with  the  help  of  his  colleagues, 
Bretliren  Cordova  and  Lopez,  is  building  grandly  for 
the  Master  on  the  Miraflores  and  Ameca-Meca  Cir- 
cuit, having  seven  congregations  to  serve.  The  whole 
machinery  of  Methodism  is  being  brought  into  active 
employment  in  Mexico,  and  I  submit  that  but  few  mis- 
sions of  the  age  of  this  one  can  show  such  results.  It 
is  the  strongest  Protestant  mission  in  the  country.  The 
"Church  of  Jesus,"  started  under  the  auspices  of  the 
American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  as  an  unde- 
nominational Church,  and  transferred  to  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  was  in  the  field  before  us,  and  gath- 
ered a  large  number  of  adherents.  The  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  are  doing  a  good  work,  and  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  has  one  congrega- 
tion, a  superintendent,  and  three  native  preachers,  in 
the  city,  and  on  the  border,  near  Texas,  they  have  some 
circuits,  served  mainly  from  their  Texas  Conferences." 

The  Secretary  visited  the  mission  by  order  of  the 
Board,  thoroughly  to  inspect  its  material  interests. 
Large  expenditures  had  been  made  within  a  brief  pe- 
riod for  real  estate,  and  still  other  expenditures  of  this 
nature  were  being  called  for.  The  numerous  accounts 
which  had  thus  arisen  between  the  Board  and  superin- 
tendent seemed  to  require  the  personal  presence  of  the 
Secretary  in  Mexico  for  their  adjustment.  He  traveled 
throughout  with  the  Bishop,  but  gave  his  closest  atten- 
tion to  his  assigned  duties.  Upon  his  return  he  ren- 
dered to  the  Board  a  detailed  report  of  the  work. 


376  Methodist   Episcopal  Missions. 

The  aspect  of  the  mission  remained,  for  the  most  part, 
unchanged  during  1879.  The  work  was  extended  to  the 
city  of  Queretaro,  whose  central  position  on  the  great 
line  of  travel  and  commerce  between  Mexico  City  and 
the  northern  and  western  portions  of  the  country,  and 
also  its  relation  to  tlie  center  of  the  mission  in  the  city 
of  Mexico,  made  it  an  important  jjoint  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mission  in  the  country  at  large.  No  mis- 
sionary could  be  spared  for  this  station,  and  it  could  be 
merely  held  by  a  native  pastor  for  the  time. 

The  mission,  however,  expanded  this  year  by  occujoa- 
tion  of  secondary  points  connected  with  principal  sta- 
tions. Two  of  these  were  adjacent  to  Mexico  City,  at 
one  of  which,  Tulyahualco,  fifty-eight  probationers  were 
received,  though  stoning  was  a  feature  at  nearly  every 
service. 

In  connection  with  Pachuca  Circuit  new  congrega- 
tions had  been  developed  at  three  places,  and  on  the 
Guanajuato  Charge  several  new  openings  demanded  at- 
tention, eminently  the  city  of  Leon,  the  second  most 
populous  city  of  the  republic,  to  which  the  mission  was 
invited. 

The  year  1880  saw  a  marked  increase  in  every  de- 
partment in  the  statistical  returns,  except  in  the  number 
of  orphans.  The  native  working  staff  had  an  increase  of 
12,  the  communicants  of  191,  and  the  Sunday-schools  of 
1 30  scholars,  while  the  average  attendance  on  public  wor- 
ship showed  an  advance  of  25  per  cent.  Three  new 
places  of  worship  and  two  parsonages  were  added. 
Church  organization  made  a  marked  forward  movement 
in  the  organization  of  Quarterly  Conferences  on  Guana- 
juato, Orizaba,  and  Miraflores  Circuits.  The  school  at 
Miraflores   enrolled    185   pupils,  mostly  from    Romanist 


Sundry  Ala  tiers.  377 

families.  At  Ayapango  four  j)ersons  were  imprisoned 
for  allowing  their  children  to  attend  the  mission  schools. 

During  the  year  18S1  the  mission,  always  enduring 
persecution  in  a  variety  of  ways,  was  thrust  into  the  sore 
sorrow  of  the  martyrdom  of  one  of  its  members.  At 
Queretaro,  where  an  attempt  was  made  to  open  public 
ser\ices,  the  house  occupied  by  Rev.  A.  AV\  Greenman 
and  wife,  with  the  native  preacher,  Seiior  Cordova,  was 
assaulted  on  Sunday,  April  3,  by  a  mob  of  over  two 
thousand  people.  The  local  authorities  were  culpably 
dilatory  in  attempts  to  quell  the  riot,  and  subsequently 
professed  themselves  unable  to  protect  the  missionaries, 
who  were  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  city  of  Mexico. 
By  the  interposition  of  the  General  Government  they 
returned  to  Queretaro  July  i,  and  services  were  re- 
sumed. At  Silao  the  native  preacher,  Senor  Mendoza, 
was  frequently  threatened  and  his  house  was  assaulted. 

On  the  8th  of  April  occurred  the  murder  of  one  of 
the  Mexican  preachers,  Epigmenio  Monroy.  He  had 
this  year  been  appointed  in  charge  of  the  work  at 
Apizaco,  and  had  gathered  a  few  followers  in  the  neigh- 
boring village  of  Santa  Anita.  On  his  way  from  that 
place  he  was  violently  assailed,  and  died  from  the  wounds 
a  few  days  after  in  a  state  of  great  peace,  and  with  a 
spirit,  like  Stephen's,  of  forgiveness  for  his  murderers. 
One  of  his  companions  also  died  from  wounds  received 
at  the  time.  These  circumstances  excited  the  special 
sympathy  of  the  Church  this  year  for  the  Mexican  Mis- 
sion. 

The  Rev.  Duston  Kemble  and  wife  went  to  the  field 

early  this  year  as  a  re-enforcement  to  the  mission.      Dr. 

Emilio  Fuentes  y  Betancourt,  a  highly  educated  Roman 

priest,  who  became  convinced  of  the  errors  of  the  sys- 
25 


378  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

tern  to  which  he  had  been  attached,  visited  Mexico  this 
year,  with  the  recommendation  of  the  Secretaries,  and 
rendered  acceptable  service  in  connection  with  the  mis- 
sion. 

The  completion  of  the  new  Spanish  hymn  and  tune 
book  within  the  year  was  a  matter  of  great  interest  and 
importance.  It  was  the  product  of  very  careful  labor 
continued  through  four  years,  under  supervision  of  the 
Publishing  Committee,  and  it  was  hoped  might  be  of 
value  in  all  missions  to  vSpanish-speaking  people,  as  well 
as  for  the  field  in  which  it  was  prepared. 

The  influence  of  the  mission  was  not  to  be  measured 
by  the  statistical  returns,  which  showed  something  over 
seven  hundred  communicants,  while  a  thousand  persons 
were  estimated  as  the  average  attendance  on  Sab- 
bath worship.  A  careful  reckoning  of  the  number  of 
"  adherents  "  would  show  four  or  five  thousand  persons, 
and  multitudes  besides  came  in  various  ways  under  the 
influence  of  the  mission.  This  was  in  the  face  of  depriva- 
tion of  means  of  support  for  some  of  the  preachers,  and 
imprisonment  and  violent  treatment  of  others.  Mexico 
was  still  a  new  field  for  Protestant  missions,  to  which 
it  had  now  been  open  only  thirteen  years.  The  mis- 
sion itself  dated  from  1872,  but  the  Reform  laws  were  not 
formulated  till  nearly  two  years  later,  so  that  the  prog- 
ress of  the  mission  was  to  be  judged  of  in  the  light  of 
these  obstacles,  added  to  those  growing  out  of  the  fact 
that  until  recently  the  land  had  been  under  the  exclu- 
sive dominion  of  Roman  Catholicism.  The  result  was 
seen  in  gross  ignorance  and  low  moral  tone  of  the  peo- 
ple, with  spiritual  perceptions  deadened  by  Roman  dog- 
ma and  ceremonialism.  But  the  environment  had  made 
a  heroic  Protestantism,  and  the  first  decade  of  Metho- 


Sundry  Matters.  379 

dist  history  in  the  country  was  now  closing  its  chapters 
of  "  fire  and  blood,  of  mobs  and  violence,  of  fanatical 
hatred  and  obloquy." 

The  mission  geographical  outline  extended  two  hun- 
dred miles  eastward  from  the  city  of  Mexico  through 
the  Miraflores  valley  and  the  States  of  Puebla,  Orizaba, 
and  Cordova.  Northward  and  westward  it  extended 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  the  large  cities, 
Queretaro,  Guanajuato,  and  Leon,  and  a  half  dozen  or 
more  of  the  larger  towns.  In  the  city  of  Mexico  itself 
there  were  five  well-established  congregations. 

Persecution  abounded.  The  native  helper  at  San 
Vicente  in  1881  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  a  member 
of  the  congregation  was  dragged  across  the  floor  of  the 
court  room  by  the  hair  of  his  head  for  having  had  the 
temerity  to  ask  permission  to  bury  his  child  in  the  par- 
ish churchyard  where  the  Government  had  ordered  that 
all  interments  should  take  jDlace. 

The  scourge  of  yellow  fever  swept  over  Cordova  and 
some  of  the  church  members  were  carried  off,  triumph- 
ing at  death.  Early  in  the  year  Rev.  Duston  Kemble 
had  reconnoitered  the  field  with  a  view  to  establish  a 
central  station  at  Leon,  the  second  city  of  the  republic. 
The  educational  exhibit  of  the  mission  showed  sixteen 
day-schools  in  which  558  pupils  were  enrolled,  besides 
those  in  the  special  institutions. 

Bishop  Andrews  visited  the  mission  in  1882.  This  year 
saw  less  of  violent  persecution,  though  but  a  few  days 
before  one  of  the  colporteurs  in  the  city  of  Leon  was  set 
upon  and  severely  beaten  and  bruised,  while  another 
near  this  city,  and  still  another  in  Tlaxcala,  were  com- 
pelled to  retreat  in  danger  of  their  lives.  In  the  last 
case  one  of  the  would-be  murderers  was  one  of  the  as- 


380  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

sassins  of  Epigmenio  Monroy.  Notwithstanding  these 
instances  there  seemed  to  be,  especially  in  Qiieretaro 
and  other  large  cities,  a  change  in  the  tactics  of  the 
enemy.  All  the  efforts,  ingenuity,  and  sleepless  vigi- 
lance of  the  priests  were  bent  to  secure  an  almost  com- 
plete isolation  of  the  missionaries  and  preachers  from  all 
contact  with  the  people.  And  in  Mexico  these  designs 
could  be  and  were  carried  out  to  an  extent  almost  in- 
conceivable in  any  other  civilized  country.  All  the 
secret  influences  of  the  confessional,  the  espionage  of 
the  priests  and  their  minions,  even  social  and  commer- 
cial relations,  were  organized  to  prevent  tlie  masses  from 
giving  even  a  casual  hearing  to  the  Gospel  or  coming 
within  the  sphere  of  evangelistic  agencies. 

A  new  church  was  completed  this  year  at  Ayapango 
and  dedicated  by  Bishop  Andrews.  Rev.  Hermann 
Luders  died  at  Puebla  January  17,  1882,  after  prolonged 
illness. 

Puebla  Circuit.  A  preparatory  and  theological  school 
was  begun  in  1S82  {?),  (Report  1883,  p.  191.)  In  1S83 
work  was  begun  at  San  Martin  (Texmelucan),  in  a  hall 
rented  for  us  by  a  man  who  had  long  been  a  Protestant, 
who  was  eager  to  be  known  as  the  first  Protestant  of  the 
place,  though  he  knew  this  act  would  ruin  his  trade. 
Tetela  is  a  district  inhabited  by  pure-blooded  Indians, 
which  had  also  been  attached  to  this  circuit,  and  in 
1883  reported  blessed  and  abundant  results.  It  is  in 
the  Switzerland  of  Mexico,  the  Sierra  of  the  northern 
districts  of  the  State  of  Puebla,  exclusively  inhabited 
by  Indians,  a  hardy  and  independent  race,  where  men 
of  influence  proffered  their  direct  aid.  Xochiapulco,  in 
this  region,  in  1884  was  the  center  of  a  circuit  of  six- 
teen   villages,   where   fortnightly   preaching    was    main- 


Sundry  Matters.  38 1 

taincd  ia  the  vernacular  of  the  people,  avIio  do  not  un- 
derstand Spanish,  but  who  speak  the  Indian  language  of 
their  forefathers,  in  use  among  these  beautiful  moun- 
tains centuries  before  the  Spanish  conquest  of  Mexico. 

The  Girls'  School  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  in  Puebla  reported  encouraging  prospects. 

In  1885  work  was  begun  at  Panotla,  twenty-three  miles 
north  of  Puebla,  in  the  small  State  of  Tlaxcala,  with  a 
congregation  of  Indians.  On  July  11  mob  violence  was 
attempted  to  break  up  this  work,  and  the  little  congre- 
gation remained  behind  barricaded  doors  till  rescued  by 
the  military. 

12.  Annual  Conference  Organized.     . 

The  General  Conference  of  1884  erected  the  Mexico 
Mission  into  an  Annual  Conference.  Bishop  William 
L.  Harris  expressed  a  wish  to  the  Board  of  Bishops  to 
be  allowed  to  make  a  second  visit  to  Mexico  to  effect 
this  organization. 

The  mission  met  in  Trinity  Church,  Mexico  City, 
January  15,  1885.  Superintendent  Drees  read  Psalm 
72  and  Acts  20,  and  Bishop  Harris  led  in  an  earnest 
prayer.  The  Bishop  then  announced  the  action  of  the 
General  Conference  and  made  the  following  tranfers: 

Charles  W.  Drees,  Felipe  N.  Cordova,  from  Cincin- 
nati Conference;  John  W.  Butler,  Augustin  Palacios,  from 
New  England ;  Samuel  P.  Graver,  Samuel  W.  Siberts, 
from  Io\ya  ;  Almon  W.  Greenman,  from  North  Indiana  ; 
Duston  Kemble,  from  Central  Ohio ;  Simon  Loza,  Justo 
M.  Euroza,  Conrado  A.  Gamboa,  from  Wyoming  ;  E. 
Fuentes  y  Betancourt,  Abundio  Tovar,  Pedro  F.  Valder- 
rama,  from  New  York  East — fourteen  in  all.  All  these 
were  present,  except  F.  N.  Cordova,  who  was  serving  in 


382  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

the  New  Mexico  Mission.  S.  P.  Graver  was  elected 
Englisli  secretary,  and  C.  A.  Gamboa  Spanish  secre- 
tary. 

The  mission  received  great  profit  from  the  visit  of  J. 
M.  Phillips,  Treasurer  of  the  Missionary  Society,  who 
was  present  at  this  conference. 

The  Rev.  L.  G.  Smith,  who  had  labored  for  some 
years  under  Bishop  Taylor  in  South  Africa,  had  come  to 
Mexico  in  1884,  and  was  now  received  on  trial  in  the 
conference. 

The  members  of  the  conference  were  all  very  happy 
to  have  present  Gonrado  A.  Gamboa,  who  seemed  to 
them  like  "  one  raised  from  the  dead."  About  this 
event  Mr.  Butler  wrote  to  Bishop  Warren,  under  date  of 
December  12,  1884,  from  Silao  as  follows:  "You  will 
be  pained  to  learn  of  the  affliction  that  has  fallen  upon 
this  part  of  our  field.  This  place  (Silao)  is  where  Mr. 
Kemble,  now  in  charge  of  the  Guanajuato  Gircuit,  re- 
sides. Mr.  Gamboa,  Secretary  of  the  last  Annual  Meet- 
ing, lives  at  Guanajuato.  Gueramaro  is  one  of  the  out- 
stations,  and  about  fourteen  leagues  from  here.  Mr. 
Gamboa  had  been  asking  Mr.  Kemble  to  let  him  make 
the  next  visit  to  Gueramaro.  Accordingly  they  ex- 
changed last  Sunday.  About  4  a.  m.  Monday,  Mr.  Gam- 
boa, accompanied  by  the  porter,  a  faithful  fellow  and 
good  Ghristian,  started  out  on  horseback.  About  half 
a  league  from  Silao  they  were  met  by  highwaymen  and 
fired  upon.  The  porter  was  instantly  killed.  Mr.  Gam- 
boa received  a  ball,  which  entered  the  back  just  under 
the  right  shoulder  blade,  passed  through  the  lower  part  of 
the  right  lung,  and  came  out  in  the  front  of  the  chest. 
He  lay  for  two  hours  on  the  side  of  the  road  suffering 
intensely  from  his   wound,  as   well  as  from   the  severe 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  383 

cold,  before  any  one  passed.  The  first  man  wlio  came 
paitl  no  attention  to  his  cries  for  hel[).  Presently,  how- 
ever, another  came,  and  seeing  the  critical  situation 
came  into  Silao  to  get  help.  He  called  immediately  at 
the  house  of  the  town  judge,  who  went  out  and  brought 
Mr.  Gamboa  home  in  his  own  coach.  It  was  about  half 
past  eight  when  they  reached  the  mission  house.  For- 
tunately Mr.  Kemble  had  come  down  from  Guanajuato 
on  the  early  morning  train.  The  three  physicians  called 
said  Mr.  Gamboa  could  not  live.  Nor  did  Mr.  Kemble 
think  he  could.  However,  God  has  been  better  to  us 
than  our  fears.  Four  days  have  passed,  and  he  is  in  ex- 
cellent condition,  considering  all  the  circumstances. 
The  day  after  the  shooting  his  pulse  was  no  ;  it  has 
quietly  fallen  till  now  it  is  only  84,  and  the  heat  of  the 
body  377.10  centigrammes.  Thus  far  there  are  no  signs 
of  inflammation.  He  is  calm,  and  at  the  same  time 
hopeful.  The  attending  physician  now  says,  if  inflamma- 
tion does  not  set  in,  he  will  recover." 

This  was  December  12  ;  on  the  15th  of  January 
Gamboa  was  at  conference  in  Mexico  city. 

Sunday,  January  19,  Bishop  Harris  ordained  Abundio 
Tovar  and  Pedro  Y .  A^alderrama  deacons,  and  Conrado 
A.  Gamboa,  Justo  M.  Euroza,  and  Simon  Loza  elders. 
This  was  the  first  regular  ordination  service  on  Mexican 
soil. 

On  June  24,  of  the  previous  year,  Rev.  A.  W.  Green- 
man  nearly  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  an  angry  mob  in 
Celaya.  Mr.  F.  N.  Cordova  had  a  similar  escape  in 
Queretaro.  The  mission  premises  at  Puebla  were  stoned 
in  the  fall  of  1884. 

At  close  of  conference  there  were  14  ministers  re- 
ceived by    transfer,   2    from    the    Protestant   Episcopal 


384  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Church  on  their  credentials,  and  7  on  trial  ;  total,  23. 
Besides  these  there  were  12  local  preachers  in  the 
employ  of  the  mission,  and  6  American  ladies  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  There  were  674 
probationers  and  625  full  members.  A  course  of  study 
was  for  the  first  time  adopted  for  the  use  of  the  native 
preachers. 

Bishop  Harris  made  but  one  district  and  appointed 
the  superintendent,  C.  W.  Drees,  as  Presiding  Elder. 
The  district  was  divided  into  seven  circuits,  as  follows: 
Mexico  Circuit,  J.W.  Butler;  Puebla  Circuit,  A. W. Green- 
man  ;  Orizaba  Circuit,  Simon  Loza  ;  Pachuca  Circuit,  L. 
C.  Smith;  Qiftretaro  Circuit,  S.  P.  Graver;  Guanajuato 
Circuit,  Dustin  Kemble.  C.  W.  Drees,  Editor,  and 
John  W.  Butler,  Press  Agent.  The  Theological  School 
was  temporarily  moved  to  Miraflores,  and  S.  W.  Siberts 
appointed  director. 

Prudencio  G.  Hernandez,  a  valued  native  minister, 
died  January  25,  1S84,  and  his  son,  Joaquin  V.  Her- 
nandez, another  esteemed  worker,  died  February  22, 
1SS5.  While  preaching  earnestly  and  straining  every 
nerve  to  reach  and  persuade  a  group  of  scoffers  outside 
the  chapel  window  he  suffered  rupture  of  the  aorta  and, 
falling  in  the  pulpit,  expired  instantly.  He  broke  his 
heart  for  love  of  lost  men.  He  was  faithful,  earnest, 
humble,  and  devoted,  and  a  brother  beloved. 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  had  retired 
from  the  Mexican  field,  and  the  American  Bible  Society 
had  entered  in  187S.  This  was  very  important,  as  it 
meant  more  aggressive  work.  The  figures  in  the  recent 
reports  of  this  agency  were  very  interesting  and  encour- 
aging. Their  agents  in  Mexico  everywhere  labor  in 
harmony  with  other  workers. 


Anuual  Conference  Organized.  385 

In  February,  1885,  Bisliop  Harris  dedicated  the  cliapel 
at  Orizaba.  June  24  the  chapel  at  C'oatlinchan,  twenty- 
five  miles  from  Mexico,  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  C.  W. 
Drees,  the  services  being  directed  by  J.  W.  Butler,  and 
the  sermon  of  the  forenoon  preached  by  S.  P.  Graver. 
In  the  evening  addresses  were  made  by  Messrs.  Drees 
and  Smith.  The  church  cost  about  ^800,  and  would 
seat  one  hundred  and  fifty  people. 

The  mission  was  greatly  encouraged  by  the  donation 
of  several  cabinet  organs  from  Mrs.  H.  W.  Warren. 
Several  important  advance  steps  were  taken  this  year. 
The  work  was  started  at  Zacualtipan,  a  town  of  some 
six  thousand  inhabitants,  sixty  miles  beyond  Pachuca. 
Mr.  L.  C.  Smith  did  the  pioneer  work  here. 

The  work  in  the  Sierra  of  Puebla,  called  sometimes 
"  the  Switzerland  of  America,"  was  also  started  this 
year.  Tliis  region  has  an  almost  pure  Indian  popula- 
tion. In  some  places  the  indigenous  languages  only 
were  spoken. 

Cortazar  was  opened  May  14,  1SS5,  and  Alfajayuca 
about  the  same  time.  San  Juan  del  Rio  was  opened 
May  24,  1885,  by  S.  P.  Graver.  The  observance  of 
''Ghildren's  Day  "  was  introduced  cpiite  generally  into 
the  mission  with  excellent  results.  It  became  thereafter 
a  permanent  feature  in  the  work  of  the  churches  of  the 
conference.  The  observance  also  of  the  special  week  of 
prayer,  on  the  call  of  the  Baltimore  Gentennial  Gonfer- 
ence,  at  many  points  of  the  mission  was  of  great  spirit- 
ual good. 

The  special  attention  given  to  the  inauguration  of  self- 
support  in  the  congregations  during  the  year  resulted  in 
the  gratifying  report  of  $5,227  contributed  for  this  pur- 
pose. 


3S6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

About  the  end  of  June  Simon  Candillo,  a  man  over 
thirty  years  of  age  and  a  member  of  one  of  the  princi- 
pal families  of  the  congregation  at  Silao,  was  waylaid  in 
the  night  and  treacherously  stabbed  in  the  back  by  a 
fanatical  neighbor,  who  afterward  boasted  of  having 
killed  a  Protestant.  I..  B.  Salmans  came  to  the  mission 
this  year. 

18.  Annual  Conference,  1886-1887. 

At  the  Conference  in  January,  18S6,  Bishop  Foster  di- 
vided the  work  into  three  Presiding  Elders'  Districts,  the 
Northern,  the  Central,  and  the  Eastern.  Rev.  G.  B. 
Hyde  arrived  in  the  mission  in  July,  but  Rev.  Duston 
Kemble,  after  a  fight  with  serious  bodily  ailment,  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  field  in  August. 

Bishop  Foster  laid  the  corner  stone  of  a  new  church 
in  Ixtacalco  January  7,  1886.  Ixtacalco  was  one  league 
from  Mexico  on  the  ancient  canal  and  in  the  very  center 
of  the  so-called  floating  gardens  so  graphically  described 
by  Prescott. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Hyde's  arrival  he  was  stationed  at 
Tetela,  in  the  Sierra  of  Puebla,  and  in  connection  with 
A.  W.  Greenman,  Presiding  Elder,  pushed  the  work 
throughout  that  entire  region. 

The  work  was  organized  in  Panotla,  State  of  Tlaxcala, 
in  February,  18S6.  Violent  persecution  soon  fell  upon 
the  people  of  the  mission  churches. 

Rev.  A.  W.  Greenman  wrote  of  it  at  that  time  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  fanatics,  instigated  by  the  curate  of  the 
place,  have  lost  no  opportunity  to  trouble  our  friends,  and 
have  even  tried  to  compel  them  to  leave  the  town.  The 
insults  and  attacks  reached  their  climax  the  nth  of 
June,  when  a  mob  obliged  the    ministers,    Messrs.  Vel- 


Annual  Conference,  1886-1887.  387 

asco  and  Hyde,  together  with  the  writer,  to  seek  refuge 
in  the  room  which  one  of  the  brethren  there  had  loaned 
for  a  chapel.  They  remained  there  more  than  an  hour 
before  the  troops  from  Tlaxcala  arrived  and  dispersed 
the  rioters.  Some  of  the  ringleaders  were  imprisoned 
and  fined.  But  what  was  our  surprise  to  learn,  a  few 
days  later,  that  some  six  or  seven  of  our  brethren  had 
been  put  in  jail  in  Tlaxcala  because  they  had  refused  to 
pay  a  fine  of  $25  apiece  which,  on  the  pretext  of  their 
having  originated  the  trouble  by  holding  peacefully  their 
services,  the  authorities  had  imposed  on  them.  It  was 
finally  arranged,  after  a  good  deal  of  trouble,  that  all 
should  be  excused  from  the  payment  of  the  fine,  except 
Mr.  Carre,  the  owner  of  our  provisional  chapel.  His 
fine  was  deposited  witli  the  authorities  until  the  Minister 
of  **  Gobernacion,"  to  whom  the  case  was  appealed, 
should  decide  it.  Up  to  this  date  no  answer  has  been 
received.  The  services,  however,  continued  without  in- 
terruption. The  friends  there  remained  faithful  and 
made  offers  for  the  building  of  a  church,  while  day  by  day 
Christian  influences  are  extending  in  all  that  section." 

Another  very  serious  difiiculty  wilh  which  they  had  to 
contend  in  some  parts  of  the  country  was  thus  described 
by  Rev.  S.  P.  Craver  in  one  of  his  reports  to  the  con- 
ference : 

"  The  efforts  of  the  Romish  priesthood  to  counteract 
our  work  and  prevent  the  people  from  getting  a  gleam 
of  light  are  every  year  more  desperate.  Misrepresenta- 
tion, threats,  excommunications,  and  every  other  device 
known  in  Rome  in  modern  times,  are  brought  to  bear 
upon  an  ignorant  and  docile  people.  The  result  is  that 
we  with  difficulty  obtained  a  hearing  in  most  jjlaces,  and 
even  then  fear  of  the  consequences  keeps  many  people 


388  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

from  openly  professing  their  adherence  to  Protestant 
princijiles.  An  increasing  attention  is  given  to  the  base 
caluniny  that  Protestant  missionaries  are  emissaries  of 
the  American  Government  sent  here  for  the  purpose  of 
dividing  the  Mexican  people  and  thus  making  annexa- 
tion more  easy.  It  is  claimed  in  these  harangues  against 
us  that  the  Catholic  religion  is  the  only  real  bond  of  the 
union  among  the  Mexicans,  and  that  our  effort  to  break 
this  bond  tends  directly  to  the  dismemberment  of  the 
nation. 

"  In  harmony  with  this  view  those  who  identify  them- 
selves with  our  work  are  stigmatized  as  '  traitors  to  their 
country.'  The  theory  of  a  natural  and  invincible  an- 
tagonism between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Latin  races 
is  also  insisted  upon  with  tenacity  by  those  who  main- 
tain that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  specially 
adapted  to  the  Latin  race.  To  accept  Protestantism  is 
to  become  'Anglicized,'  or  rather  '  Yankeeized.'  All 
these  elements,  added  to  the  innate  depravity  and  ac- 
quired badness  of  multitude,  make  our  work  peculiarly 
and  increasingly  difficult." 

Atzala,  seventy-five  miles  south  of  Puebla,  was  visited 
in  1886.  Nine  years  before  twenty-three  Protestants  had 
been  murdered  here  in  cold  blood  by  a  mob  of  several 
hundreds  of  fanatics.  They  were  at  first  independent, 
then  adopted  by  the  "  Church  of  Jesus,"  which  had 
failed  for  several  years  to  aid  them  with  a  minister  or 
money.  They  built  their  own  chapel.  Other  points 
also  were  rendered  accessible,  such  as  Cholula,  a  large 
town  eight  miles  west  of  Puebla,  the  site  of  the  famous 
pyramid  of  the  same  name. 

The  authorities  of  the  Church  saw  fit,  in  November, 
1886,  to  transfer  Rev.  C.  W.  Drees  to  the   Superinten- 


Annual  Conference,  1886-1887.  389 

dency  of  the  Missions  in  South  America.  Mr.  Drees 
had  endeared  himself  to  all  hearts,  and  had  proven  him- 
self to  be  a  wise  and  careful  administrator.  On  his 
departure  J.  W.  Butler  was  appointed  Treasurer  and 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Board  in 
Mexico. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  mission  the 
annual  gathering,  or  conference  of  1887,  was  held  out- 
side the  city  of  Mexico.  This  was  made  possible  by  in- 
creased railroad  facilities  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  ac- 
quisition of  a  fine  mission  property  by  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  Puebla  on  the  other. 
The  lady  workers  of  that  society  having  placed  their 
large  and  conveniently  arranged  quarters  at  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  conference,  it  convened  there  January  13- 
17,  Bishop  Hurst  presiding. 

The  new  building  for  the  Theological  Seminary  was 
also  commenced  this  year,  the  corner  stone  being  laid 
July  21  by  J.  W.  Butler,  and  addresses  made  by  S.  P. 
Graver,  S.  W,  Siberts,  Simon  Loza,  and  Ignacio  Chago- 
yan.  The  appropriation  from  the  Parent  Society  was 
supplemented  by  a  liberal  subscription  from  the  workers 
in  the  mission. 

The  corner  stone  of  a  new  church  was  laid  in  Corta- 
zar,  State  of  Guanajuato,  October  19,  and  a  new  school 
house  constructed  in  Apizaco,  State  of  Tlaxcala. 

The  new  church  at  Xochiapulco  was  dedicated  by 
Bishop  Hurst  just  after  conference  in  January,  1887,  and 
the  new  church  at  Ixtacalco  also  was  dedicated  by  him 
February  5.  William  Green  was  transferred  from  the 
New  York  Gonference,  and  W.  P.  F.  Ferguson  from 
the  Troy.  The  first  came  in  Marcli,  1S87,  and  the  sec- 
ond in  June,  of  that  year. 


390  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

1  4.  Evangelical  Assembly. 

In  February,  1888,  a  general  assembly  of  the  workers 
of  all  the  evangelical  missions  of  Mexico  was  held  in 
the  Trinity  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Mexico  City. 
This  assembly  had  its  origin  in  a  correspondence  be- 
tween Mr.  Samuel  A.  Purdee,  Superintendent  of  the 
Friend's  Mission,  and  J.  W.  Butler,  of  our  own.  The 
first  official  step  was  taken  in  the  Annual  Conference  of 
1885,  when,  by  request.  Bishop  Harris  appointed  the 
following  committee  to  confer  with  representatives  of 
other  missions  on  the  subject  :  C.  W.  Drees,  J.  W.  But- 
ler, C.  A.  Gamboa,  A.  Tobar,  and  S.  P.  Craver. 

The  assembly  brought  together  the  representatives  of 
both  branches  of  Methodism,  of  four  Presbyterian  bod- 
ies, of  two  Baptist,  of  the  Congregationalists  and  Epis- 
copalian Church,  and  also  of  the  Friends.  Several  mat- 
ters of  great  importance  came  up  for  consideration, 
namely,  the  occupancy  of  territory,  the  transfer  of 
native  workers,  the  publication  of  a  union  hymn  book, 
the  founding  of  a  union  college,  Sunday-school  and  tract 
work,  the  temperance  cause,  the  statistics  of  Protestant- 
ism, revision  of  the  Spanish  version  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, self-support,  gambling,  the  evangelical  press.  Sab- 
bath observance,  and  other  themes.  Perhaps  the  best 
results  of  the  assembly,  which  was  harmonious  and  inter- 
esting all  through,  was  the  opportunity  of  personal  in- 
tercourse with  the  workers,  native  and  foreign,  of  the 
several  missions.  From  it  came  new  inspiration  and 
more  harmonious  action  in  all  the  work. 


Annual  Conferences,  1 888-1 8S9.  391 

IS.  Annual  Conferences,  1888-1889. 

The  Conference  of  1888  was  held  in  Mexico  City,  and 
presided  over  by  Bishop  Bowman. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Reid,  Senior  Secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  visited  the  mission,  counselling  with  the  work- 
ers in  all  the  principal  stations.  Dr.  William  Butler 
also,  the  founder  of  the  mission,  spent  some  three 
months  going  in  and  out  among  them  and  inspiring  all 
with  his  own  faith  and  devotion. 

For  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  Mexico  Conference 
chose  representatives  to  the  General  Conference.  J.  W. 
Butler  was  the  ministerial  delegate,  and  Simon  Loza  re- 
serve. J.  M.  Phillips  was  the  lay  delegate,  and  Doroteo 
Mendoza  the  reserve  lay  delegate.  But  as  the  General 
Conference  decided  against  extra-territorial  representa- 
tion, and  it  was  then  too  late  to  have  Mendoza  reach  the 
place  of  the  session,  the  Mexico  Conference  had  but  one 
representative  in  the  General  Conference. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  a  member  of  the  church 
at  Coatlinchan,  State  of  Mexico,  was  cruelly  assassinated 
on  the  highway  because  of  his  religion,  making  the  sec- 
ond member  of  this  congregation  to  go  down  to  a  mar- 
tyr's grave. 

A  new  church  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Bowman  in 
Cortazar  just  after  the  session  of  the  conference.  Rev. 
F.  D.  Tubbs  and  wife  and  Rev.  H.  G.  Limric  joined  the 
mission  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  the  former  going  to  Quere- 
taro,  and  the  latter  remaining  for  some  time  in  Mexico 
City.  The  work  was  extended  this  year  into  the  State 
of  Oaxaca,  Avhich  was  an  important  step,  as  it  added  a 
large  and  populous  State  (equal  to  New  England  in  ter- 
ritory) to  that  previously  occupied  by  the  mission.     It 


39-  Methodist   Episcopal  Missions. 

contained  1,343,715  inhabitants.  In  addition  to  this  it 
was  the  natural  'key  to  all  the  southern  part  of  the 
country.  It  was  also  the  State  that  had  given  such  men 
as  Benito  Juarez,  Matias  Romero,  Manuel  Dublan,  and 
Porfirio  Diaz  to  the  nation. 

Work  began  in  May  in  a  little  town  near  Orizaba, 
called  Atzacan.  On  Saturday,  May  26,  about  2  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  an  attack  was  made  on  the  little  flock. 
Eight  persons  were  sleeping  in  the  board  hut  where  the 
school  and  services  were  held.  Over  a  hundred  shots 
were  estimated  to  have  been  fired  by  their  enemies,  who 
were  in  the  streets  a  few  yards  distant.  Some  trees 
about  the  house  afforded  a  slight  protection,  yet  the  bul- 
lets shattered  the  lamp,  table,  and  blackboard.  A  ball 
of  cotton,  saturated  with  oil  and  lighted,  was  thrown  on 
the  thatch  roof,  but  a  member  promptly  dislodged  it  be- 
fore any  harm  was  done.  Work  was  started  in  Tuxpan, 
on  the  coast,  though  not  much  was  done  till  the  follow- 
ing year. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1SS9  the  mission  suffered 
two  severe  losses.  Augustin  Palacios  died  January  5  in 
Orizaba,  and  Simon  Lozadiedin  Puebla  March  28.  The 
first  mentioned  Avas  one  of  the  champions  of  Protestant- 
ism in  Mexico.  He  was,  prior  to  his  conversion,  curate 
of  the  parish  church  attached  to  the  cathedral  in  Mex- 
ico City  ;  also  at  one  time  father  confessor  to  IMaxi- 
milian. 

The  conference  met  at  Guanajuato,  presided  over  by 
Bishop  Walden,  January  17,  1SS9.  Harry  G.  Limric 
and  Frank  D.  Tubbs  were  transferred  from  the  Mon- 
tana Conference.  Thanks  to  Professor  Isaac  T.  Good- 
now  were  expressed  for  a  donation  of  ;|i,ooo  to  the 
Press.     Five  persons  were  admitted  on  trial — three  or- 


Annual  Conference,  18S8-1S89.  393 

dained  to  deacons'  orders  and  one  to  elders'  orders. 
The  conference  roll  contained  thirty  names.  The  con- 
ference was  divided  into  four  districts — Central,  Coast, 
Northern,  and  Piiebla.  The  mission  house  in  Mexico  City 
was  entirely  remodeled  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,  Mexican 
currency,  and  greatly  improved  in  convenience  and  in 
appearance.  The  new  front  included  a  book  store,  edi- 
torial and  agents'  rooms,  and  three  parsonages,  and  with 
the  press,  school,  chapel,  and  church  in  the  rear,  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  complete  Protestant  headquarters  in 
the  country. 

The  mission  received  a  gift  of  $1,000  from  a  New 
England  lady  to  found  a  perpetual  scholarship  in  the 
Crirls'  School  aT  Puebla.  In  the  meantime  a  Kansas 
friend  started  an  endowment  for  the  Theological  School, 
and  another  for  the  press  by  the  donation  of  $1,000 
worth  of  stock  for  each  object.  The  new  church  at 
Xochiapulco  was  nearly  destroyed  by  an  earthquake, 
and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  dynamite  the 
house  of  worship  at  Valle  de  Santiago. 

Several  District  Conferences  were  held  during  the 
year  with  excellent  results.  Some  had  been  held  in  pre- 
vious years  with  like  good,  but  abandoned  owing  to  lack 
of  funds  to  meet  the  expense  of  attendance. 

A  very  interesting  and  important  exploring  trip  was 
made  by  Messrs.  Euroza  and  Tovar  through  the  States 
of  Hidalgo,  Vera  Cruz,  and  Puebla.  Scores  of  towns 
were  visited,  and  in  many  of  them  anxious  crowds  lis- 
tened for  the  first  time  to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
A  similar  trip  was  made  the  following  year  by  Rev.  L. 
C.  Smith,  who  in  two  months  visited  all  the  towns  along 
the  line  from  Pachuca  to  Tuxpam  on  the  coast,  and 
back  by  the  way  of  Huehuetla  and  Huauchinango. 
26 


394  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Services  were  held  in  all  towns  visited  but  one.  Perma- 
nent work  was  established  in  many  of  the  towns  then 
visited  for  the  first  time. 

Mr.  Smith  had  previously  made  an  extended  preach- 
ing tour  through  the  State  of  Guanajuato.  In  Morroleon 
he  was  attacked  by  an  angry  mob  and  very  seriously 
wounded.  Wiping  the  blood  from  his  face  and  wrap- 
ping a  cloth  around  his  head  he  stood  up  and  preached 
to  the  excited  multitude  while  Government  bayonets  pro- 
tected him  from  further  violence. 

The  Rev.  S.  W.  Siberts,  in  his  report  of  the  district, 
wrote  :  "  Our  people  here  are  subject  to  constant  perse- 
cution and  insult.  Our  chapel  keeper  has  been  attacked 
and  severely  wounded  in  the  very  door  of  our  church, 
and  the  year  has  brought  many  bitter  hours  to  our  min- 
ister and  his  family.  During  the  celebration  of  Mex- 
ico's Independence  Day  three  different  attempts  were 
made  by  the  fanatical  crowd  to  attack  the  house,  but 
the  mob  was  driven  off  by  the  State  troops.  The  fidel- 
ity and  boldness  of  our  little  flock  of  thirty  or  forty  per- 
sons in  this  place  are  remarkable,  and  speak  highly  of 
their  devotion  to  the  cause  and  of  their  love  for  their 
Master.  They  come  a  distance  of  eight  miles  to  church, 
some  of  them  walking  all  the  way.  They  spend  the 
Sabbath  in  the  preacher's  house,  and  return  to  their 
humble  homes  Sunday  night  after  church  or  early  Mon- 
day morning  to  begin  the  duties  of  the  day.  Few  Chris- 
tians make  a  greater  sacrifice  for  tlieir  faith." 

The  Rev.  AV.  E.  McLennan  and  wife,  from  North-west 
Indiana  Conference,  joined  the  mission  late  in  the  year. 


Annual  Conference^  1 890-1 894.  395 

1  6.  Annual  Conference,  1  890- 1  894. 

The  conference  of  1890  was  held  in  Mexico  City,  pre- 
sided over  by  Bisliop  W.  F.  Mallalieu.  The  work  in  Mira- 
llores  was  of  special  interest  this  year.  A  new  school-house 
was  built  at  an  outlay  of  about  $1,200,  one  half  of  which 
was  contributed  by  English  friends  on  the  ground.  The 
Governor  of  the  State  visited  the  school  and  offered  to 
employ  all  teachers  they  could  graduate  and  did  not 
need  in  their  own  work.  The  school  at  Tezontepec  was 
visited  by  the  State  Inspector  of  Public  Instruction  for 
the  State  of  Hidalgo,  and  pronounced  by  him  to  be  one 
of  the  best  in  the  State.  This  was  all  the  more  remarkable 
since  he  came  prejudiced  against  the  mission  on  religious 
grounds.  He  left  it  a  warm,  cordial  friend,  and  remained 
such. 

The  lives  of  Messrs.  Espinoza  and  Vigueras  were  in 
danger  twice  during  the  year.  In  December  an  attempt 
was  made  to  blow  up  the  place  of  worship  at  Tlacuilotepec, 
where  they  were  conducting  worship.  The  house  was 
terribly  shaken,  but  all  lives  were  providentially  pre- 
served. There  was  a  marvelous  growth  of  the  Zacualti- 
pam  Circuit  this  year,  and  nine  congregations  were  re- 
ported at  conference.  The  work  was  pushed  in  the  State 
of  Oaxaca  with  much  vigor,  thirty  towns  being  visited  by 
the  preacher  and  services  held  in  most  of  them. 

There  were  great  persecutions  in  Queretaro,  and  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  burn  the  chapel,  which  resulted 
only  in  ruining  three  of  the  outside  windows.  Persecu- 
tion became  so  fierce  that  they  were  obliged  to  appeal  to 
President  Diaz,  who  came  speedily  and  effectively  to 
their  aid. 

The  congregation  in   San   Felipe   Teotlantzingo  was 


396  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

attacked  by  an  angry  mob  April  5  and  several  shots  fired. 
The  house  of  a  poor  woman  belonging  to  our  congrega- 
tion was  set  on  fire  at  the  same  time.  On  the  evening 
of  September  15  another  attempt  was  made  by  enemies 
of  the  mission,  and  the  teacher,  Jose  M.  Jimenez,  shot 
and  severely  wounded.  The  Presiding  Elder  wrote  at 
the  time :  "  In  the  midst  of  threats  and  perils  the  breth- 
ren have  continued  firm,  and  the  longing  to  know  the 
Gospel  has  extended  to  other  parts." 

The  curate  of  San  Salvador  Tzompantepec,  State  of 
Tlaxcala,  wrote  about  this  time:  "Protestantism  is 
spreading."  It  was  true  that  more  towns  than  ever  in 
the  State  of  Puebla  were  just  then  begging  the  mission- 
aries to  send  preachers  to  them.  A  worthy  layman 
from  New  England,  J.  D.  Flint,  who  visited  Mexico  in 
January,  annually  made  generous  donations  to  new  work 
thereafter. 

For  the  first  time  the  conference  was  held  in  1891  in 
Pachuca,  one  of  the  richest  mining  districts  of  the  coun- 
try. This  was  made  possible  by  the  construction  of 
railroads  to  this  place.     Bishop  W.  X.  Ninde  presided. 

The  Rev.  I.  C.  Cartwright  and  wife  arrived  during  the 
conference  session.  He  was  transferred  from  the  Rock 
River  Conference.  Twenty-four  new  congregations  were 
added  to  the  work  this  year,  aggregating  629  more  adher- 
ents. Collections  for  all  purposes  amounted  to  ;|  12,002 
in  Mexican  currency,  or  about  i|i 0,000  gold,  showing 
how  the  people  in  Mexico  were  trying  to  help  them- 
selves. A  new  church  was  dedicated  at  Santa  Anna 
Nextlalpam,  State  of  Mexico,  by  Bishop  Ninde  in  Feb- 
ruary at  a  cost  of  about  $800.  On  May  5  a  new  church 
worth  over  ^1,000  was  dedicated  at  Acayuca.  The  town 
authorities  attended  tkededicatoryservices.  Both  of  these 


Annual  Conference^  1890-1894.  397 

cluirches  were  built  almost  entirely  from  local  resources. 
I'he  work  of  construction  of  a  chapel  in  Panotla  and  of 
a  handsome  church  in  Puebla  was  begun.  The  Eng- 
lish work  in  the  Pachuca  Circuit  grew  considerably  this 
year  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  new  missionary,  Rev. 
I.  C.  Cartwright.  Several  conversions  of  an  interesting 
character  grew  out  of  the  faithful  labors  of  his  wife,  Dr. 
Marguerite  Cartwright.  Rev.  Frank  Borton  and  wife 
joined  the  mission  in  December.  Mr.  Borton  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  English  work  in  the  city  of  Mexico.  At 
conference,  a  month  later,  he  was  also  made  Press  Agent. 

In  1892  the  statistics  showed  that  the  work  had  nearly 
doubled  within  the  past  five  years.  It  is  certainly  wor- 
thy of  note  that,  though  the  mission  was  now  over 
twenty  years  old  and  the  missionaries  had  all  been  sub- 
ject to  tropical  diseases  on  the  one  hand  and  to  violence 
of  almost  every  kind  on  the  other,  up  to  this  date  not 
one  foreign  missionary  had  died  in  the  field. 

In  1892  the  conference  met  the  second  time  in  Puebla, 
the  ecclesiastical  center  of  the  Republic,  Bishop  Fow- 
ler presiding.  C.  A.  Gamboa  was  elected  as  the  first 
delegate  (ministerial)  to  the  General  Conference,  and 
Andres  Cabrera  lay  delegate.  By  the  aid  of  a  few 
friends  these  two  delegates  were  permitted  to  make 
quite  a  tour  of  eastern  cities  before  going  to  Omaha. 
They  visited  schools,  churches,  and  headquarters  of  the 
societies,  of  which  they  spoke  in  glowing  terms  on 
their  return  to  Mexico.  Mr.  Gamboa  visited  nearly  all 
the  larger  congregations  in  Mexico  after  his  return,  and 
with  excellent  results.  His  death  in  November  follow- 
ing Avas  a  great  loss  to  the  work. 

December  4  the  new  church  at  Puebla,  the  finest 
Protestant   church    in    the     Republic,    was     dedicated. 


398  ■  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Enemies  had  vowed  it  should  never  be  dedicated,  and 
had  vainly  attempted  its  destruction.  Dr.  C.  VV.  Drees, 
of  South  America,  who  was  on  a  visit  to  his  old  field  of 
labor,  preached  the  dedicatory  sermon.  Dr.  Drees's  visit 
was  greatly  enjoyed.  The  mission  also  received  much 
profit  from  the  visit  of  Dr.  Sandford  Hunt,  treasurer  of 
the  Missionary  Society,  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst,  editor 
of  Zions  Herald,  and  Dr.  John  F.  Goucher,  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Board,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year. 

In  1893  the  conference  again  met  in  Mexico  City, 
Bishop  C.  D.  Foss  presiding.  Bishop  Foss,  like  most  of 
Bishops  visiting  Mexico  during  recent  years,  had  a  very 
satisfactory  interview  with  the  President  of  the  Republic, 
and  heard  from  his  own  lips  assurances  of  the  full  pro- 
tection under  the  law  of  life  and  property.  President  Diaz 
had  kept  his  promises,  and  for  his  timely  aid  in  time  of 
trouble  placed  the  missions  under  many  obligations  to 
him. 

The  Rev.  J.  W.  Butler  had  been  on  a  visit  to  the 
United  States  and  had  returned  with  a  new  press,  worth 
about  $1,800,  donated  by  New  York  friends,  a  steam 
engine  worth  $450,  three  cabinet  organs,  and  about 
$1,000  for  chapel  building. 

The  tenth  session  of  the  Annual  Conference  was  held 
in  Orizaba  January  18-22,  1894.  Bishop  FitzGerald, 
en  route  to  the  seat  of  the  conference,  was  detained  at 
Vera  Cruz,  the  steamer  being  quarantined.  J.  W.  But- 
ler was  elected  to  preside  at  the  conference  till  the 
Bishop  arrived.  The  Bishop  took  the  chair  January  20. 
He  was  accompanied  by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  F.  Thompson,  of 
the  South  America  Mission.  One  person  was  ordained 
elder  and  two  deacons.  Two  members  of  conference 
withdrew  under  charges.     The  yellow  fever  had  swept 


Anmial  Conference^  1S90-1894.  399 

away  many  of  the  church  members  on  Cordoba  Circuit, 
persecution  raged  at  many  places,  and  yet  the  work 
steadily  advanced,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  state- 
ment of  the  number  of  communicants :  There  were 
1,299  when  the  Conference  was  organized  January  15, 
1885  ;  these,  by  1889,  numbered  2,238  ;  and  now,  Janu- 
ary, 1895,  there  are  3,027  enrolled.  The  vigor  of  the 
church  was  also  seen  in  tlie62  Sunday  schools  with  1,838 
scholars. 

17.  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Miss  S.  M.  Warner  was  the  first  woman  appointed  to 
Mexico.  She  arrived  in  February,  1874,  worked  awhile  in 
Pachuca,  and  then  for  several  years  in  Mexico.  After  a 
needed  rest  at  home  she  returned  and  labored  with  great 
success  in  Puebla  till  1892,  when  she  became  Mrs.  Dan- 
iel Densmore  and  removed  to  Red  Wing,  Wisconsin, 
having  been  highly  esteemed  by  the  workers  in  Mexico. 

Miss  Mary  Hastings  reached  Mexico  at  the  same  time 
with  Miss  Warner.  After  working  awhile  in  Mexico 
City  she  took  the  Pachuca  work  in  1875,  where  she 
continued  to  labor  with  great  fidelity.  Miss  Carter  and 
Miss  Cooper  were  engaged  for  a  little  while  in  the  Mex- 
ico City  work.  The  two  daughters  of  Dr.  William  But- 
ler were  also  identified  with  the  work. 

Miss  Mary  F.  Swaney  arrived  in  the  mission  in  the 
spring  of  1878  and  was  appointed  to  Mexico  City,  after- 
ward to  Puebla,  and  still  later  to  Queretaro.  Broken 
health  compelled  her. to  leave  the  country.  She. sub- 
sequently joined  the  mission  in  South  America.  Miss 
Clara  L.  Mulliner  went  to  her  help  in  the  orphanage  at 
Mexico  City  November,  1878,  but  broken  health  com- 
pelled her  to  leave  in  18S3. 


400  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Miss  Nettie  G.  Ogden  made  two  ineffectual  attempts 
to  endure  the  climate.  Miss  Marion  Hugaboom's  serv- 
ices were  also  very  brief. 

Miss  Eleanora  Le  Huray  wnet  in  April,  1884,  and  re- 
mained till  January,  1888. 

Miss  Laura  M.  Latimer  joined  us  this  year  (1884) 
from  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  but  returned  to  the  States 
soon  after  to  finish  her  medical  education. 

Miss  Mary  De  F.  Loyd  arrived  in  1884,  took  the 
charge  of  the  orphanage,  was  appointed  Treasurer  of 
the  AVoman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  Mexico  in 
1886,  where  she  carried  on  a  most  efficient  work.  Miss 
Harriet  L.  Ayres  went  as  assistant  in  the  Mexico  school 
in  1887,  and  still  abides  (1894),  one  of  the  most  conse- 
crated workers. 

Miss  Lizzie  Hewitt  went  in  March,  1886,  to  assist 
Miss  Warner  in  Puebla  ;  in  January,  18S7,  was  appointed 
to  Tetela,  and  returned  to  United  States  in  1891.  Miss 
Maggie  Elliott,  after  two  or  three  years  in  the  work, 
married  an  English  gentleman  and,  later,  returned  to  the 
United  States. 

Miss  Nella  Field  went  to  Pachuca  in  1887,  was  trans- 
ferred toTezontepec  in  1889,  and  returned  to  the  United 
States  with  broken  health  the  same  year. 

Miss  Anna  Rodgers  went  to  Guanajuato  in  1889, 
was  married  in  1S91  to  Mr.  Furness,  and  became  a  great 
help  to  our  work  in  Guanajuato. 

Miss  T.  A.  Parker  went  to  Puebla  in  1890,  and  was 
joined  by  Miss  Anna  Limberger,  who  went  out  in  1891. 
Miss  Parker  returned  North  in  1893  because  of  family 
affliction. 

Miss  Ida  Walton  went  to  Guanajuato  in  1891,  but  re- 
turned in  1892  to  United  States,  where  she  married. 


Woman  s  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  40 1 

Miss  Lillian  Neiger  spent  five  years  in  the  Friend's 
Mission  in  Mexico,  returned  to  this  country  for  a  rest, 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  here,  and  went 
out  under  our  Society  to  Guanajuato  in  1891,  but  re- 
turned home  in  1894  with  broken  health. 

Miss  Amelia  Van  Dorsten  arrived  in  1890,  and  Miss 
Effie  M.  Dunmore  in  1891,  both  working  at  Tetela,  in 
the  mountains  of  Puebla. 

The  Orphanage  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  in  Mexico  City  was  begun  in  1873.  At  first  it 
was  housed  in  the  cloisters  of  the  old  ex-convent  of  San 
Francisco,  our  mission  property.  Later,  as  these  quar- 
ters became  too  small,  it  was  moved  into  a  hired  house 
two  blocks  away  from  the  mission  house.  In  1886  a 
very  desirable  home  was  purchased  on  the  south  ad- 
joining our  Mission  headquarters.  For  this,  the  ladies  paid 
$39,000  Mexican  currency,  or  about  1^30,000  gold. 

The  character  of  the  institution  was  gradually 
changed  till  it  became  a  boarding  and  day  school  with 
about  40  house  pupils  and  over  100  day  pupils,  a  total  of 
about  150.  The  children  were  trained  for  different 
positions  in  life.  Many  teachers  have  gone  out  from 
the  school  before  graduating.  November,  1893,  a  fine 
class  of  five  girls  was  graduated  from  the  full  curricu- 
lum, and  were  engaged  as  teachers  in  the  mission. 

The  first  Epworth  League  in  the  Mexico  Republic 
was  organized  in  this  school  in  1892,  and  was  called  the 
"  William  Butler  Chapter."  Since  then  four  other  chap- 
ters have  been  organized  at  Pachuca,  Orizaba,  and 
Puebla.  A  good  religious  influence  reigned  in  the  home, 
and  faithful,  practical  teachers  were  being  raised  up. 
Out  of  forty-two  native  teachers  and  assistants  em- 
ployed by  the  Woman's   Foreign  Missionary  Society  in 


402  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Mexico,  thirty-four  were  educated  in  whole  or  in  part  in 
the  mission  schools. 

The  second  work  established  by  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  in  Mexico  was  in  Pachuca.  Miss 
Warner  was  here  awhile,  but  exchanged  work  with  Miss 
Hastings  in  1874.  At  first  the  school  was  conducted  in 
a  hired  house,  and  later  joint  property  was  bought  by  the 
Missionary  Society  and  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mission 
Society  and  a  home  built  for  each  on  either  side  of 
the  compound.  The  work  grew  so  that  in  1894  Miss 
Hastings  had  about  three  hundred  girls  under  her 
influence.  This  was  a  day  school,  though  at  times 
Miss  Hastings  had  eight  or  ten  girls  in  her  home. 
For  a  long  time  the  property  has  been  inadequate  for 
the  needs  of  the  work.  A  fine  property  has  been 
built  up  on  the  old  site,  which  is  the  most  attractive 
and  best  arranged  school-house  in  the  State,  if  not  in  the 
Republic.  The  older  girls  of  the  school  were  constantly 
engaged  in  church  work. 

From  the  very  first  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  had  part  of  the  Miraflores  work  in  hand,  having 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  girls. 

The  workers  found  Puebla  a  stubborn  field.  But  by 
Miss  Warner's  and  Miss  Swaney's  persistent  and  de- 
voted efforts  a  foundation  was  laid  for  work  that  became 
wonderfully  prosperous.  Nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
girls  were  in  1894  connected  with  the  school.  A  most 
conveniently  located  property  had  been  secured  and 
fitted  up  in  convenient  and  attractive  way  adjoining 
the  general  mission  property,  and,  like  it,  was  part  of 
the  old  convent  of  Santa  Catarina.  Good  teachers 
went  from  this  school  into  several  mission  stations. 

The  school  at  Guanajuato  has  suffered  the  disadvan- 


Woman  s  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  403 

tagc  of  repealed  clianges  in  teachers,  but  promised  well 
at  this  time. 

Miss  Hewett  was  appointed  to  the  work  in  Tetehx 
in  1887.  Two  American  ladies  followed  later — 
Misses  Van  Dorsten  and  Dunsmore — though  it  was  be- 
lieved tliat  native  teachers  could  carry  on  this  mountain 
work,  and  that  the  two  ladies  there  could  be  more 
useful  in  larger  places  like  Orizaba  and  Oaxaca.  Be- 
sides the  above-named  places  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  1894  was  carrying  on  work  in  Tezonte- 
pec,  Ayapango,  Chicoloapam,  Apizaco,  Orizaba,  and 
Canada.  Dr.  Butler  now  wrote,  saying,  "  How  the  mis- 
sions carried  on  their  work  before  the  organization 
of    this    Society    I   cannot   imagine.     We  could  not  do 

without  it." 

1  8.  The  Press. 

The  Press  was  established  in  1876.  Ur. William  Butler 
then  spent  six  months  in  the  United  States  visiting 
camp  meetings,  churches,  and  friends,  soliciting  funds 
for  this  purpose.  He  succeeded  in  collecting  about 
$12,000,  with  which  a  complete  outfit  was  furnished  for 
this  publishing  house. 

In  April,  1877,  the  "  Abogado  Cristiano  Illustrado  " 
was  first  published,  and  has  continued  ever  since  as  the 
organ  of  tl\e  Church  in  the  Republic.  It  was  originally 
a  monthly,  but  became  a  semi-monthly.  It  had,  in 
1893,  a  circulation  of  about  2,600.  It  reached,  as  did 
the  tracts  and  books,  many  homes  where  the  living  mis- 
sionary could  not  go.  One  of  the  first  books  published 
was  a  Methodist  hymnal  with  313  hymns.  Among  other 
issues  were  the  following  :  Watson's  "  Life  of  Wesley," 
Life  of  Carvosso,  Life  of  Hester  Ann  Rogers,  Peck's 
"What  ]\Iust  I  do  to  be  Saved?  "   "  Binney's  Compend," 


404  Methodist  Episcopal  Missons. 

Hurst's  "  Outlines  of  Church  History,"  Alden's  "Chris- 
tian Evidences,"  Beaudry's  "  Spiritual  Struggles,"  "The 
Record  of  a  Happy  Life,"  "  Moody's  Heaven,"  "  Cate- 
chism No.  I  and  No.  2,"  "  Methodist  Discipline,"  and 
tracts  and  pamphlets  of  different  sizes  and  on  a  variety 
of  subjects.  Up  to  January  i,  1893,  there  had  been  is- 
sued 37,235,446  pages  of  religious  literature. 


PART  XIII. 
MISSION  TO  JAPAN. 


Keep  silenct  be/ore  me,  O  islands ;  and  let  the  people  renevj  their  strength  : 
'et  them  come  near :  then  let  them  speak:  let  us  come  near  together  to  judg- 
ment.— Isa.  xli,  I. 

He  shall  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged,  till  he  have  set  judgment  in  the  earth  : 
and  the  isles  shall  wait  /or  his  law. — Isa.  xlii,  4. 

The  Lord  reigneth  ;  let  the  earth  rejoice  ;  let  the  multitude  0/  isles  bt  glad 
thereof. — Psa.  xcvii,  l. 

1.  Previous  History  of  Japan. 
'T^HE  Empire  of  Japan  comprises  the  large  group  of 
-*■  islands  lying  off  the  eastern  coast  of  Asia,  extending 
from  the  Loochoo  Islands,  its  extreme  territory  on  the 
south,  to  the  southern  islands  of  the  Kurile  chain,  its 
extreme  territory  on  the  north. 

The  present  Japanese  are  supposed  to  be  the  de- 
scendants of  a  conquering  race  of  Mongolian  origin, 
which,  about  seven  centuries  before  tlie  Christian  era, 
landed  on  the  western  coast  of  Kiushiu,  a  large  and  im- 
portant island  in  the  southern  portion  of  Japan,  and, 
having  obtained  a  foothold,  gradually  forced  the  abo- 
rigines northward,  and  obtained  possession  of  the  entire 
country.  At  the  present  time  the  aborigines  (called 
Ainos)  are  reduced  to  a  small  and  decreasing  remnant 
of  about  ten  thousand,  occupying  a  portion  of  the  in- 
ferior of  Yesso,  a  large  island  in  the  northern  portion 
of  Japan. 

The  history  of  Japan  commences  about  B.  C.  677,  at 
which  time,  it  is  said,  that  Jimmu  Tenno,  the  first  Em- 


4o6         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

peror  of  Japan,  began  to  reign.  The  dynasty  founded 
by  Jimmu  Tenno  has  continued,  in  an  unbroken  line, 
to  rule  Japan  to  the  present  time,  thus  furnisliing  an 
instance  of  dynastic  longevity  unparalleled  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  and  indicating  the  existence  of  a 
Strongly  conservative  element  in  Japanese  character. 
According  to  Japanese  history,  the  Mikado  reigning  at 
the  present  time  is  reckoned  as  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-second  in  the  line  of  Jimmu  Tenno. 

The  piimitive  religious  faith  of  the  Japanese  is  called 
Shintooism,  a  term  derived  from  two  Chinese  words, 
namely,  Shin,  meaning  gods,  spirits,  etc.,  and  To,  a  way, 
doctrine,  instruction,  etc.  Shintooism  is  a  very  meager 
and  imperfect  expression  of  the  spiritual  belief  of  the 
Japanese.  As  a  religious  system,  it  is  characterized 
favorably  by  the  absence  of  impure  and  cruel  rites,  by 
a  recognition  of  the  existence  of  superhuman  beings,  to 
whom  man  is  responsible  and  upon  whom  he  is  de- 
pendent, and  by  the  extreme  simplicity  of  its  doctrinal 
formulas  and  ritual  of  worship;  and,  unfavorably,  by  its 
utter  failure  to  satisfy  or  appreciate  the  most  profound 
and  urgent  wants  of  the  human  soul.  In  view  of  this 
radical  defect  in  Shintooism,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  Confucian  ethics,  introduced  into  Japan  from  China 
about  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  met  with 
ready  acceptance  among  the  higher  and  more  thought- 
ful classes  of  the  Japanese,  who  found  in  those  teachings 
something  to  satisfy  the  intellectual  cravings  of  their 
nature ;  while  subsequently  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple gave  a  cordial  welcome  to  Buddhism,  which  entered 
Japan  from  China  about  tne  sixth  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  which,  in  its  doctrines  and  ritual,  re- 
sponded to  some  of  the  demands  of  the  emotional  ele- 
ment in  man's  nature.      It  has  tlnis  come  to  pass  that 


Previous  History  of  Japati.  407 

tlie  religious  faith  and  practices  of  the  Japanese  present 
a  strange  aduiixturc  of  Shintooism  with  the  Confucian 
ethics  and  Buddhism.  The  official  and  literary  classes 
profess  to  accept  and  follow  only  the  precepts  of  Con- 
fucius, while  the  common  people  are  almost  universally 
Buddhists;  but  many  of  the  higher  classes  are  practi- 
cally Buddhists.  It  might,  indeed,  be  said  that  at  pres- 
ent Buddhism  is  the  religion  of  the  Japanese.  It  is  true 
that  since  the  change  in  the  Government  of  Japan, 
which  occurred  A.  D.  1869,  when  the  office  of  Shogun 
was  abrogated,  and  the  Mikado  became  the  sole  ruler 
of  the  empire,  the  Government  has  endeavored  to  re- 
press Buddhism  and  foster  Shintooism  ;  but  while  its 
efforts  in  this  direction  have  tended  to  bring  Buddhism 
into  disrepute,  they  have  failed  to  develop  any  enthu- 
siasm among  the  people  in  favor  of  Shintooism. 

A  knowledge  of  Christianity  was  introduced  into  Japan 
during  the  sixteenth  century  by  missionaries  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  faith,  prominent  among  whom  were  Fran- 
cis Xavier  and  his  Jesuit  associates,  who,  in  A.  D.  1549, 
landed  on  the  coast  of  Kiushiu,  the  most  southerly  of 
the  larger  islands  of  the  Japan  group,  and  were  at  once 
most  cordially  welcomed  by  all  classes  of  the  Japanese. 
The  Jesuits  were  soon  followed  by  other  orders  of 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  and  during  a  period  of 
about  for'.y  years  the  efforts  of  these  missionaries  were  re- 
markably successful  after  their  kind.  Thousands  of  the 
Japanese  during  that  time  were  baptized  and  received 
into  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Political  complica- 
tions, however,  arose,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Japan  assumed  an  attitude  of  hostility  toward 
the  new  religion'  and,  A.  D.  1587,  Taiko  Sama  issued 
an  edict,  decreeing  the  banishment  from  Japan  of  all 
ffM-eign  missionaries,  and  ordering  the  destruction  of  all 


4o8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Christian  church  edifices.  The  immediate  execution  oi 
this  edict  was  not  vigorously  enforced  ;  nevertheless,  dur- 
ing the  foEty  years  of  civil  war  that  followed  its  promulga- 
tion, the  political  party  with  which  the  Japanese  Chris- 
tians identified  themselves  was  gradually  overpowered 
by  the  forces  of  the  Government,  and.  A,  D.  1642,  the 
last  of  the  foreign  missionaries  were  driven  from  the 
country,  and  all  public  traces  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
Japan  were  obliterated. 

The  formation  of  the  treaty,  A.  D.  1 853-54,  between 
the  United  States  of  America  and  the  Government  of 
Japan,  restored  friendly  intercourse  between  Japan  and 
western  nations,  and  introduced  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  Japanese.  When  western  nations  welcomed  Ja- 
pan to  the  comity  of  Christian  States,  they  found  in  the 
Japanese  a  people  quick-witted,  versatile,  progressive ; 
a  people,  many  of  whom,  notwithstanding  their  long  na- 
tional isolation,  were  prepared  to  adopt  and  conform  to 
the  principles  of  modern  civilization.  In  response  to  in- 
vitations from  the  Japanese  Government,  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  professional  educators,  legal  advisers,  civil  en- 
gineers, and  others  from  America  and  Europe,  entered 
its  service;  while  many  of  the  Japanese  youth,  in  their 
eagerness  to  acquire  knowledge,  matriculated  as  stu- 
dents in  the  schools  and  colleges  of  western  countries. 
It  was  ascertained,  also,  that  the  educated  and  more 
thoughtful  Japanese  were  dissatisfied  with  their  systems 
of  religion,  and  that,  notwithstanding  the  attitude  of 
uncompromising  hostility  so  long  maintained  by  the 
Government  of  Japan  with  regard  to  Christianity,  there 
existed  among  all  classes  of  the  people  a  disposition  to 
hear  and  examine  Christian  doctrines.  Confronted  by 
such  auspicious  developments,  challenged  by  such  un- 
precedented openings  for  the  proclamation  of  the  gos- 


Previous  History  of  Japan.  409 

pel  to  millions  who  had  never  heard  it,  the  Churches 
of  the  Redeemer  joyfully  entered  the  field.  Among 
the  first  to  respond  to  this  Macedonian  call  were  the 
Protestant  Episcopal,  the  American  Reformed,  and  the 
Presbyterian  Churches  in  the  United  States,  all  of  whom, 
as  early  as  A,  D,  1859,  commenced  missionary  work  in 
Japan,  Others  soon  followed,  so  that  at  the  present 
time  nearly  all  the  Missionary  Societies  representing 
the  more  prominent  branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  America  and  Europe  support  missionary  agents  in 
Japan.  The  tardiness  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  entering  this  field  was  not  from  indifference, 
but  partly,  at  least,  because  of  the  rapid  growth  of  her 
missionary  work  in  other  foreign  countries.  Since 
she  has  responded  to  the  call  her  Japan  Mission,  as 
regards  the  number  of  missionaries  employed,  stands 
in  the  fourth  rank,  while  as  regards  the  number  of  sta- 
tions occupied  by  resident  missionaries,  it  stands  in 
the  front  rank,  among  the  twelve  Protestant  missions 
in  Japan.     Her  spiritual  success  has  been  great. 

2.  Establishment  of  the  Mission. 
The  establishment  of  the  Japan  Mission  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  was  authorized  by  the  General 
Missionary  Committee  of  the  Church  at  its  annual  ses- 
sion, held  in  the  city  of  New  York,  November,  1872. 
The  first  missionaries  appointed  to  the  Japan  Mission 
were  the  Rev.  R.  S.  Maclay,  superintendent,  formerly  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  in  Foo- 
chow,  China,  the  Rev.  John  C.  Davison,  of  the  Newark 
Annual  Conference ;  the  Rev.  Julius  Soper,  of  the  Bal- 
timore Annual  Conference ;  and  the  Rev.  M.  C.  Harris, 
of  the  Pittsburgh  Annual  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
li^piscopal  Church.  Dr.  Maclay  and  family  arrived  in 
27 


4IO  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Yokohama,  Jajian,  June  ii,  1S73.  They  were  accom- 
panied from  San  Francisco  to  Yokohama  by  the  Rev. 
Dr  J.  P.  Newman  and  his  wife,  who  remained  with 
them  several  weeks  after  their  arrival,  aiding  them  by 
their  counsels  in  forming  plans  for  opening  the  mission. 
While  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  other  members  of  thtr 
mission  Dr.  Maclay,  in  order  to  provide  a  home  for  his 
family,  rented  a  dwelling-house  situated  on  Bluff  Lot, 
No.  60,  Yokohama. 

On  July  9,  1873,  Bishop  Harris,  accompanied  by  the 
Rev.  J.  W.  Waugh,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Ross  C.  Houghton, 
and  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Spencer,  arrived  in  Yokohama. 
The  presence  of  Bishop  Harris  and  his  traveling  com- 
panions during  the  initial  stage  of  the  Japan  Mission 
was  a  most  opportune  and  cheering  event.  The  Bishop 
remained  about  five  weeks,  devoting  himself  to  the  great 
work  of  founding  the  mission.  The  Rev.  Irvin  H.  Cor- 
rell  and  wife,  on  their  way  to  Foochow,  China,  as  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  reached 
Yokohama  June  30,  1873,  from  San  Francisco,  and  were 
compelled  by  the  serious  illness  of  Mrs.  Correll  to  sus- 
pend their  passage  at  this  point,  and  prepare  for  at  least 
a  temporary  sojourn  in  Japan.  Bishop  Harris,  carefully 
investigating  the  case,  and  seeking  the  best  medical  ad- 
vice within  reach,  transferred  Mr.  Correll  to  the  Japan 
Mission,  thus  making  an  urgently  needed  and  most  wel- 
come addition  to  its  corps  of  members.  This  transfer 
was  made  July  22,  1873,  and  on  August  8,  1873,  Messrs. 
Davison  and  Super,  accompanied  by  their  wives,  ariived 
in  Yokohama.  It  was  necessary  for  Bishop  Harris  to 
proceed  to  China  by  the  steamer  advertised  to  start 
from  Yokohama  for  Shanghai  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
following  day,  and  it  was,  therefore,  decided  to  hold 
the  first  session  of  the  meeting  for  the  formal  organiza- 


Organization  of  the  Mission.  4 1 1 

tion  of  the  mission  during  the  evening  of  the  day  Messrs. 
Davison  and  Soper  arrived. 

3.  Organization  of  the  Mission. 
This  meeting  convened  at  eight  o'clock  P.  M.  Au- 
gust 8,  1873,  in  the  rented  Mission  House,  No.  60  Bluff, 
Yokohama.  There  were  present  Bishop  Harris,  in  the 
chair;  members  of  the  mission,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Mac- 
lay,  Davison,  Soper,  and  Correll,  together  with  their 
wives;  visitors.  Rev.  Drs.  Newman  and  Waugh,  Revs. 
Messrs.  Houghton  and  Spencer,  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  ;  Rev.  Messrs.  Geo.  Cochran  and  D.  Mac- 
donald,  M.D.,  of  the  Canada  Methodist  Mission  in  Ja- 
pan ;  Mrs.  Newman,  and  Miss  Dr.  Combs,  a  member  of 
the  Peking  Mission  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  our  Church.  The  opening  service  was  con- 
ducted by  Bishop  Harris,  after  which  the  Rev.  John  C. 
Davison  was  unanimously  elected  secretary.  Brief  and 
touching  addresses  were  then  made  by  the  Bishop  and 
all  others  present,  every  one  most  heartily  indorsing  the 
action  of  the  Church  in  commencing  the  Japan  Mission, 
and  expressing  their  most  earnest  wishes  for  its  success. 
Bishop  Harris  then  presented  to  the  mission  a  pro- 
gramme of  work  which,  in  his  judgment,  it  would  be 
well  for  the  mission  to  adopt  for  its  operations  in  Japan, 
and  the  programme,  which  proposed  that  the  mission 
proceed  at  once  to  establish  stations  at  Yokohama, 
Yedo,  (Tokio,)  Hakodati,  and  Nagasaki,  was  unani- 
mously adopted.  The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  meet 
in  the  same  place,  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.,  the  next  day. 
Pursuant  to  this  adjournment,  the  Bishop,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  mission,  together  with  all  the  visitors, 
met.  Bishop  Harris  occupied  the  chair,  and,  after  the 
opening  service,  delivered  an  appropriate  address,  and 


412  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

then,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Newman,  proceeded  to 
administer  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  to  all 
present.  Tliis  solemn  service  finished,  the  Bishop  then 
read  the  plan  of  appointments  as  follows,  namely: — 

Superintendent,  R.  S.  Maclay,  residence,  Yokohama; 
Yokohama,  Irvin  H.  Correll ;  Yedo,  (Tokio,)  Julius 
Soper  ;  Hakodati,  Merriman  C.  Harris ;  Nagasaki,  John 
C.  Davison. 

After  the  reading  of  the  appointments  the  members 
of  the  mission  arranged  that  the  first  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  Japan  Mission  be  held  in  Yokohama,  commencing 
on  or  about  July  i,  1874,  and  then,  with  a  few  moving 
words  from  the  Bishop,  the  singing  of  the  doxology  by 
all  present,  and,  finally,  the  benediction  by  tlie  Bishop, 
the  meeting  for  organizing  the  Japan  Mission  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  adjourned  sine  die.  At 
four  P.  M.  the  same  day  the  Pacific  mail  steamship  "New 
York  "  bore  away  Bishop  Harris  and  his  traveling  com- 
panions. 

4.  The  Stations. 

Yokohama  is  an  important  town  and  port  of  trade 
situated  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Yedo, 
eighteen  miles  south  of  Yedo,  (now  called  Tokio,)  the 
great  capital  of  the  empire.  The  town  in  its  rise  and 
wonderful  development  furnishes  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  events  now  move  in  Japan. 
When  Commodore  Perry,  with  the  United  States  squad- 
ron under  his  command,  visited  Jai)an,  in  1853-54,  Yo- 
kohama, as  a  town  or  port  of  trade,  had  no  existence, 
the  site  now  covered  by  it  being  then  marked  only  by 
a  few  straggling  huts  of  Japanese  fishermen.  To-day  it 
contains  a  population  estimated  at  seventy- five  thousand, 
and  is  the  great  center  of  foreign  commerce  and  ex- 
change in    Jai)an.     Yokohama   is  the   terminus   for  the 


The  Stations  of  yapan  Mission.  4 1 3 

English  and  French  steamship  lines  in  the  East,  It  is 
the  only  port  in  Japan  where  the  steamers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Pacific  Mail  Company  call,  and  is  one  of  the  most 
important  centers  for  the  steamship  lines  of  Japan.  Its 
proximity  to  the  great  roads  of  Japan  makes  it  an  ad- 
mirable point  from  which  to  itinerate  through  tlie  in- 
terior of  the  country;  while  its  intimate  connection  by 
steam  and  telegraphic  communication  with  all  parts  of 
the  coast  give  it  unrivaled  faciliti-es  for  conducting  cor- 
respondence and  business  with  mission  stations  through- 
out Japan, 

Yedo,  or  Tokio,  as  it  is  now  called,  was  formerly  the 
residence  of  the  Shogans,  and  one  of  the  two  renowned 
capitals  of  Japan.  Since  A.  D.  1869  it  has  been  the 
residence  of  the  Mikado,  and  sole  capital  of  the  empire. 
The  city  stands  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Gulf  of 
Yedo,  at  the  point  where  the  Sumida  River  pours  its 
waters  into  the  gulf,  and  contains  a  population  estimated 
at  six  hundred  thousand.  It  is  the  place  of  residence 
not  only  for  the  Mikado  and  his  court,  but  also  for  a 
vast  number  of  government  employes,  ex-official  and 
literary  persons,  and  others  who  are  in  some  way  con- 
nected with  the  Government,  It  contains  the  highest 
grade  of  schools  and  colleges,  and  is  tluis  the  educa- 
tional as  well  as  the  political  head  of  the  empire.  It 
possesses  a  very  large  native  trade  with  the  interior, 
and,  from  its  prestige  as  the  capital  of  the  empire,  its 
influence  upon  the  country  is  very  great.  Fine  roads 
branch  out  from  it  in  all  directions,  thus  giving  it  ex- 
cellent advantages  as  a  center  for  missionary  operations. 
A  railway,  eighteen  miles  in  length,  connects  Tokio  and 
Yokohama,  and  thus  brings  the  two  places  into  close 
proximity  and  intimate  relations. 

Hakodati  is  an  important  town   and  port  of  trade 


414  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

situated  on  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island  of 
Yesso.  It  comprises  a  population  estimated  at  thirty 
thousand,  and  is  the  only  place  in  Yesso  opened  to  for- 
eigners. The  Island  of  Yesso,  on  which  liakodati  is 
situated,  contains  a  population  estimated  at  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-five  thousand,  of  which  ten  thousand 
are  Ainos.  Sappora,  the  capital  of  the  island,  and  the 
seal  of  an  agricultural  college,  contains  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  Matsumai,  probably  the  largest  town  in 
Yesso,  contains,  it  is  said,  ten  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  importance  of  Hakodati  as  a  center  for  missionary 
work  is  due  not  only  to  the  circumstance  that  it  is  the 
only  port  of  the  island  of  Yesso  open  to  foreigners,  but, 
also,  to  the  consideration  that  it  supplies  the  best  base 
from  which  to  conduct  evangelical  work  in  the  northern 
portion  of  the  great  central  island  of  Japan,  called  Hon- 
do. It  should  be  noted,  also,  that  at  the  time  of  our 
arrival  in  Japan  no  Protestant  mission  had  as  yet  been 
commenced  on  the  island  of  Yesso,  and,  consequently, 
that  in  occupying  Hakodati,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  had  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  natives  of  that  region. 

Nagasaki,  situated  on  the  western  coast  of  the  island 
of  Kiushiu,  is  an  important  sea-port,  and  a  place  of  his- 
toric interest.  The  population  of  Nagasaki  was  forty 
thousand  one  hundred  and  seventy  in  1887,  and  it  is  sup- 
posed that  the  population  of  the  entire  island  of  Kiushiu 
is  about  five  millions,  or  a  little  less  than  one  sixth  of  the 
population  of  the  empire.  Kiushiu  enjoys  high  prestige 
among  the  Japanese.  Its  name  is  closely  interwoven 
with  the  earliest  mythological  and  historical  notices  of 
Japan,  and  amid  its  beautiful  scenery  have  been  placed 
those  early  poetical  fictions  in  which  the  gods,  assuming 
human  forms,  decided  to  abide  on  earth  as  men.     The 


The  Stations  of  Japan  Mission.  4 1 5 

people  of  Kiushiu  have  from  the  earliest  times  supplied 
a  large  portion  of  the  ideas  and  other  plastic  influences 
which  have  molded  the  character  and  determined  the 
history  of  the  Japanese.  Prominent  among  the  notable 
clans  of  Kiushiu,  perhaps  at  the  head  of  them,  may  be 
placed  the  Satsuma  people,  a  clan  whose  influence  in 
Japan  has  heretofore  been  almost  irresistible.  It  seemed 
to  the  members  of  the  mission  extremely  desirable  that, 
at  the  earliest  moment  practicable,  the  gospel  message 
should  be  placed  within  the  reach  of  the  people  of  Kiu- 
shiu. Fortunately  one  of  its  ports  (Nagasaki)  had  been 
opened  to  foreigners,  and  it  was  decided  that  our  mis- 
sion should  at  once  commence  a  station  there. 

S.  First  Year  of  Labor. 
The  chief  work  of  the  members  of  the  Japan  Mission 
during  its  first  year  was  the  study  of  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage, in  which  gratifying  progress  was  made.  The 
following  outline  will  indicate  the  movements  and  other 
work  of  the  members  of  the  mission  during  the  year. 
August  31,  1873,  the  Rev.  John  C.  Davison,  accompa- 
nied by  Mrs.  Davison,  arrived  safely  in  Nagasaki,  where 
for  a  short  time  they  found  a  comfortable  home  in  the 
hospitable  family  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Stout,  a  worthy 
missionary  of  the  American  Reformed  Church,  who,  to- 
gether with  his  excellent  wife,  had  already  spent  some 
years  in  Nagasaki,  and  now  extended  a  most  cordial 
welcome  to  the  new  missionaries.  Immediately  after 
reaching  Nagasaki  Mr.  Davison  learned  that  a  most  eli- 
gible house,  situated  on  Lot  No.  6,  Oura  Hill,  was  of- 
fered for  sale,  and,  after  due  consultation  with  the  Mis- 
sion, he  was  authorized  to  purchase  it,  which  he  accord- 
ingly did,  and  September  19,  1873,  the  propeny  was 
duly  transferred,  in  the  British  Consulate  of  Nagasaki, 


4i6         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

to  tlie  Missionary  Society  of  the  Metliodist  Episcopal 
Church,  U.  S.  A.  A  few  days  after  this  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davison  removed  to  the  new  premises,  abundantly  grate- 
ful to  God,  who  in  such  a  remarkable  manner  had 
prospered  their  way,  and  provided  for  them  a  suitable 
home  in  a  strange  land. 

September  9,  1873,  Rev,  Julius  Soper,  accompanied 
by  Mrs.  Soper,  arrived  in  Yedo,  (Tokio,)  and  took 
rooms  in  the  Yedo  Hotel,  No.  17  Tsukiji,  the  Foreign 
Concession,  where  they  remained  till  October  20,  1873, 
when  they  removed  to  a  small  house  in  Tsukiji,  which 
he  had  succeeded  in  renting.  November  2,  1873,  ^^ 
organized  a  Sunday-school  class,  composed  of  three 
members ;  "  and  from  that  time  on,"  writes  Mr.  Soper 
in  1878,  "with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  Sundays,  we 
were  never  without  some  persons  to  whom  to  give  in- 
struction in  English  or  Japanese." 

The  Rev.  Merriman  C.  Harris,  accompanied  by  Mrs, 
Harris,  arrived  in  Yokohama  from  San  Fracisco,  De- 
cember 14,  1873,  and,  after  completing  the  necessary 
preparations,  started  by  steamer  January  24,  1874,  for 
Hakodati,  where,  after  a  passage  of  forty-eight  hours, 
they  arrived  January  26,  1874,  and  were  very  cordially 
received  by  the  small  foreign  community  of  the  place. 
Immediately  after  his  arrival  in  Hakodati  Mr.  Harris 
rented  rooms  in  a  hotel  as  a  temporary  lionie  for  his 
family,  and  occupied  them  for  a  brief  i)eriod,  until  he 
succeeded  in  renting  a  native  house,  into  whicli  he  re- 
moved his  family.  Having  taken  possession  of  their 
new  home,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  at  once  organized  a 
daily  Bible-class  for  instruction  in  both  the  English  and 
the  Japanese  language.  They  found  this  exercise  verv 
interesting  and  fruitful  in  good  results. 

In  Yokohama  the  two  resident  members  of  the  mis- 


First  Year  of  Labor.  417 

sion,  Rev.  R.  S.  Maclay  and  Rev.  I.  H,  Correll,  to- 
gether with  their  families,  occupied  rented  houses,  and, 
like  the  other  members  of  the  mission,  diligently  sought 
to  acquire  the  Japanese  language,  at  the  same  time  seek- 
ing to  present  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  to  all  with  wliom 
they  came  in  contact. 

October  19,  1873,  Mr.  Correll  organized  a  Bible-class 
composed  of  six  members. 

April  20,  1874,  Dr.  Maclay  started  by  steamer  from 
Yokohama  for  Hakodati,  where  he  arrived  safely,  and 
spent  two  days.  On  the  25th,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Harris,  he  proceeded  in  the  steamer  to  Neegata.  an  im- 
portant town  opened  to  foreign  residence  and  trade  on 
the  west  coast  of  Japan,  where  they  landed  April  26, 
and  were  most  kindly  entertained  during  the  time  of 
their  visit  by  Edward  J.  Moss,  Esq.,  English  teacher  of 
the  Government  school  in  Neegata.  Rejoining  the 
steamer  from  which  they  had  landed,  they  left  Neegata, 
reaching  Hakodati  May  3,  where  Mr.  Harris  resumed 
the  work  of  his  station,  and  from  which  place  Dr.  Ma- 
clay proceeded.  May  5,  on  his  return  to  Yokohama,  ar- 
riving safely  May  8, 

Shortly  after  the  termination  of  this  trip  an  excellent 
opportunity  offered  for  visiting  Kioto,  the  ancient  capi- 
tal of  Japan,  and  as  yet  not  opened  to  foreign  resi- 
dence and  trade;  and.  May  19,  Dr.  Maclay  and  Rev. 
I.  H.  Correll  visited  that  celebrated  city,  remaining 
m  it  five  days,  calling,  also,  on  the  way,  at  Kobe  and 
Osaka,  and  returning  to  Yokohama  June  4.  The  in- 
formation gathered  during  these  trips  convinced  the 
members  of  the  mission  that  there  existed  among  all 
classes  of  the  Japanese  a  desire  to  hear  the  Gospel ;  and 
that  the  immediate  and  urgent  demands  of  the  work 
of   Christian   missions  in   Japan  were  far  beyond   the 


4i8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ability  of  the  missions  then  operating  in  the  Empire  lo 
meet. 

June  lo  Mr.  Soper,  on  behalf  of  our  Missionary 
Society,  purchased  two  lots  in  Yedo,  (Tokio,)  situated 
in  Tsukiji — a  portion  of  the  city  set  apart  for  foreign 
residents,  and  designated  the  Foreign  Concession.  T  he 
lots  are  finely  situated,  fronting  on  and  commanding  a 
beautiful  view  of  the  harbor  and  bay. 

Constant  studies  and  activities  of  the  kind  we  have 
sketched  engrossed  our  missionaries  for  the  twelve- 
month, and  it  was  with  no  small  interest  that  they 
viewed  the  approaching  assembling  of  the  first  Annual 
Meeting. 

6.  First  Annual  Meeting  and  Second  Year  of  the 
Mission. 

This  meeting  assembled  at  Yokohama,  June  27,  1S74, 
in  the  Mission  House,  No.  60  Bluff;  and  as  the  move- 
ments of  the  steamer  made  it  necessary  for  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Harris  to  start  the  next  day  on  their  return  to 
Hakodati,  the  business  of  the  Annual  Meeting  was  fin- 
ished in  one  day.  All  the  members  of  the  mission  were 
present,  and  encouraging  reports  were  received  from 
all  the  stations  of  the  mission.  Among  the  subjects 
which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  meeting  were,  an 
appeal  for  more  missionaries;  the  assignment  to  the 
different  members  of  the  mission  of  certain  literary 
work,  with  a  view  to  procuring,  as  soon  as  possible, 
Japanese  translations  of  our  Discipline,  Catechism, 
Hymns,  etc.;  and  an  arrangement  by  which  Dr.  Mac- 
lay  was  authorized  to  co-operate  with  the  Committee 
appointed  to  translate  the  Scriptures  into  the  Japanese 
language. 

The  second  year  in  the  history  of  the  Japan  Mission. 


Second  Year  of  the  Mission.  419 

upon  which  we  now  enter,  is  characterized,  on  the  part 
of  the  members,  by  continued  diligence  in  the  study  of 
tlie  Japanese  language,  and  the  instruction  of  Bible- 
classes;  by  their  commencement  of  public  preaching, 
their  initiation  of  chapel  work,  their  first  baptisms  of 
converts,  and  their  first  efforts  in  translation.  Another 
characteristic  of  the  year  is  the  commencement  of  mis- 
sionary work  in  Japan  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  During 
this  year,  also,  the  Rev.  John  Ing,  formerly  connected 
with  the  mission  of  our  Church  in  Kiukiang,  China, 
commenced  to  labor  in  Hirosaki,  Japan.  We  now  pro- 
ceed to  notice  the  principal  events  of  the  year  in  their 
chronological  order. 

The  first  chapel  occupied  by  the  mission  in  Yoko- 
hama was  rented  by  Mr.  Correll,  through  his  teacher, 
August  II,  1874,  in  the  native  portion  of  the  town,  and 
was  first  opened  for  public  preaching  on  the  i6th,  on 
which  occasion  the  audience-room  was  filled  with  attent- 
ive hearers,  to  whom  Mr.  Correll  spoke  in  Japanese 
from  Matt,  i,  18-25.  M''-  Soper  writes:  "July  5,  1874. 
For  the  first  time  stood  up  and  attempted  to  preach  in 
Japanese.  September  6.  Commenced  conducting  our 
Sunday  service  entirely  in  Japanese — the  singing,  pray- 
ing, and  preaching — the  congregations  ranging  from 
four  to  twenty." 

The  first  converts  in  the  mission  were  baptized  in 
Yokohama,  October  4,  1874,  by  Mr.  Correll,  in  his  own 
house,  No.  217  Bluff.  Besides  the  members  of  the  mis- 
sion in  Yokohama,  there  were  present  Professor  Parson, 
of  the  Imperial  College  in  Tokio,  and  his  lady,  and  Rev. 
L.  W.  Pilcher,  of  our  Peking  mission,  China,  then  en 
route  from  China  to  the  United  States.  The  converts 
were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kichi. 


420  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions 

October  28,  1874,  Miss  Dora  E.  Schoonmaker,  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  arrived  in  Yoko- 
hama, and  on  Nov.  6  proceeded  to  Tokio  to  commence 
work  under  the  auspices  of  her  society.  Dec.  18  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ing  began  work  in  Hirosaki.  The  first  bap 
tisms  in  connection  with  the  mission  in  Tokio  were 
administered  by  Mr.  Soper,  January  3,  1875,  when  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Tsuda  were  baptized  and  received  into  the 
('hurch.  On  this  occasion,  also,  Mr,  Soper,  for  the  first 
time,  administered  in  the  Japanese  language  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  first  purchase  of  land 
in  Yokohama  for  the  use  of  the  mission  was  made  on 
January  14,  1875,  when  lot  No.  222,  situated  on  what  is 
known  as  the  Western  Bluff,  was  obtained  at  private  sale 
on  January  17.  Mr.  Soper,  in  Tokio,  commenced  hold- 
ing Sunday  services  outside  of  the  Foreign  Concession, 
in  a  portion  of  the  city  called  Kanda.  The  services 
were  held  in  the  private  residence  of  Mr.  Furukawa,  a 
gentleman  who  had  become  interested  in  Christianity. 
The  mission  in  Yokohama  obtained  its  first  and  only 
church  edifice  within  the  Concession  by  purchasing, 
March  29,  from  the  Rev.  J.  Coble,  of  Yokohama,  a  part- 
ly completed  building  which  he  had  erected  for  public 
religious  services.  Mr.  Correll,  during  the  spring  of  the 
same  year,  published  in  Japanese,  a  small  tract  on  the 
"Love  of  God."  In  Tokio,Mr.  Soper,  May  9,  commenced 
holding  Sunday  afternoon  services  in  a  portion  of  the 
rity  called  Azabu,  at  the  residence  of  ^fr.  Tiuida.  The 
building  in  Yokohama,  purchased  from  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Goble,  having  been  finished,  was  opened  for  public 
worship  on  June  20,  Mr.  Correll  preacliing  a  discourse 
suitable  to  the  occasion  from  Mark  xi,  17,  and  reading 
a  translation  of  our  form  of  the  ritual  for  the  dedica- 
llon  of  a  church.      June  23.  Dr.  Marlay  removed  hia 


Second  Year  of  the  Mission.  42 1 

family  into  the  new  Mission  House  built  on  Bluft"  lot 
No.  222,  Yokohama. 

Miss  Schoonmaker  kindly  furnishes  the  following 
notices  of  the  work  in  Tokio,  conducted  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  our 
Church,  during  the  period  now  under  consideration  , 
"Two  weeks  after  our  arrival  (Nov.  6,  1S74)  in  Tokio, 
began  a  day-school  out  in  the  native  city,  three  miles 
from  the  Foreign  Concession,  with  eight  or  ten  pupils. 
During  the  year  that  followed  no  less  than  five  removals 
from  house  to  house  were  necessary,  the  school  being 
no  sooner  fairly  under  way  in  one  place  than,  on  some 
pretext  or  other,  it  would  again  be  sent  adrift;  for 
none  of  the  natives  who  had  rooms  to  let  were  suffi- 
ciently anxious  for  the  money  to  risk  losing  caste  among 
their  neighbors  by  a  too  long  or  warm  patronage  of  a 
Christian  school.  In  spite  of  obstacles,  however,  num- 
bers and  interest  increased,  and  the  school  continued. 
During  the  last  four  months  of  this  first  year  a  Bible- 
class  in  connection  with  the  school  was  held  on  Sab- 
bath mornings,  at  which  the  attendance  was  tolerably 
good;  before  the  close  of  the  year  three  of  the  pupils 
were  accepted  as  candidates  for  baptism. 

"The  school,  however,  had  not  been  carried  on  many 
months,  according  to  the  plan  indicated,  before  it  be- 
came evident,  that  in  order  to  accomplish  its  real  aim — 
the  thorough  religious  instruction  of  such  women  and 
girls  as  it  could  reach — it  must  be  established  on  a  more 
sure  foundation.  Search  was  accordingly  made  for  a 
building  wherein  to  conduct  a  boarding-school;  but 
priests  and  temples  were  numerous,  and  it  was  no  easy 
matter  to  obtain  a  place  wherein  to  open  a  school  whose 
avowed  object  was  the  teaching  of  Christianity.  How- 
ever, after  many  disappointments,  and  a  most  wearisome 


422  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

delay,  the  love  of  'filthy  lucre  '  was  lound  to  be  strongei 
in  the  mind  of  one  old  priest  than  were  his  conscien- 
tious (?)  scruples;  and  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  rent  a 
portion  of  his  gloomy  old  den,  while  he  occupied  the 
remainder  of  the  building  with  his  idol  and  its  parapher- 
nalia— circumstances  not  very  favorable  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Christian  school,  but  it  was  the  best  that  could 
be  done.  So  a  part  of  this  old  temple,  wherein  for  at 
least  a  quarter  of  a  century  only  idols  had  been  wor- 
shiped, was  rented  and  fitted  up  as  a  place  in  which  to 
establish  a  Christian  home  and  school.  The  school  be- 
gan Nov.  3,  1875,  with  five  boarders  and  twelve  day 
pupils;  and  during  a  period  of  one  year  and  two  months 
the  school  went  forward  in  spite  of  all  adverse  influences 
and  opposing  circumstances.  God  blessed  the  school, 
and  caused  it  to  grow  in  numbers  and  interest." 

During  the  period  under  review  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sion was  vigorously  carried  forward  at  Hakodati  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Harris.  A  daily  Bible-class,  with  more  formal 
services  every  Sunday,  was  conducted  with  very  en- 
couraging results.  During  the  autumn  of  1874  Mr. 
Harris,  on  behalf  of  the  Missionary  Society,  received 
from  the  Japanese  Government  the  donation  of  an  eligi- 
bly situated  plat  of  land,  subject  only  to  the  annual 
payment  of  the  ground  tax  due  tlie  Government,  and 
erected  upon  it  a  substantial  mission  house;  thus  dimin- 
ishing his  risk  from  exposure  to  the  sweeping  fires  of 
such  frequent  occurrence  in  Hakodati,  and  providing  a 
comfortable  home  for  his  family. 

In  Nagasaki  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davison  were  confronted 
by  difficulties  greater  than  those  existing  in  the  other 
stations  of  the  mission  in  Japan.  The  traditional  hatred 
and  terror  occasioned  by  the  scenes  of  the  bloody  civil 
war  in  Japan,  with  which,  moie  than  two  hundred  and 


Second  Year  of  the  Mission.  423 

fifty  years  ago  the  name  of  Christianity  had  been  asso- 
ciated, are  still  powerful  in  the  minds  of  the  Japanese 
in  Nagasaki  and  its  vicinity.  These  feelings  with  re- 
gard to  Christianity,  exist,  indeed,  with  varying  degrees 
of  strength,  throughout  Japan ,  but  the  climax  is  reached 
in  Kiushiu,  and  especially  in  Nagasaki  and  its  vicinity, 
where  were  enacted  some  of  the  most  terrible  and  re- 
volting scenes  of  that  tragedy  of  battle  and  blood. 
Notwithstanding  these  difficulties,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davison 
devoted  themselves  to  the  prosecution  of  their  mis- 
sionary work  with  praiseworthy  zeal  and  perseverance. 
Through  the  exercises  of  a  daily  Bible-class,  and  more 
formal  services  on  the  Sabbath,  they  faithfully  endeav- 
ored to  sow  the  seed  of  the  kingdom ;  and  it  was  their 
privilege  to  receive  requests  for  Christian  baptism  from 
two  persons  under  their  instruction. 

In  Hirosaki  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ing  were  untiring  in  their 
efforts  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  large  Japanese 
school  in  which  they  had  been  engaged  as  teachers, 
and  they  were  cheered  not  only  by  the  steady  growth 
of  the  school,  but  also  by  the  gradual  diffusion  of 
Christian  knowledge  among  the  pupils,  chiefly  through 
the  judicious  labors  of  Mr.  Y.  Honda. 

"June  5,  1875,"  writes  Mrs.  Ing,  "fourteen  young 
men,  all  students  except  one,  were  baptized  by  Mr. 
Ing  in  our  dwelling.  Eight  other  young  men  were  de- 
sirous of  receiving  baptism  at  the  same  time,  and  were 
present ;  but  out  of  deference  to  tlje  wishes  of  their 
parents,  and  for  other  good  reasons,  had  consented  to 
wait  for  a  time.  In  the  afternoon  we  enjoyed  a  com- 
munion service,  at  which  eighteen  partook  of  the  em- 
blems of  the  sufferings  and  death  of  our  blessed  Saviour. 
At  these  services  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  be  espe- 
cially present;  indeed,  during  the  half  year  of  our  resi- 


424         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

dence  here  we  had  seemed  to  be  in  the  midst  of  a  quiet 
revival,  such  as  we  had  sometimes  enjoyed  in  our  old 
homes;  and  we  no  longer  felt  we  were  strangers  in  a 
strange  land,  but  had  found  a  home  again  among  those 
who,  in  truth  and  in  name,  belonged  to  the  great  family 
of  Christ's  disciples." 

7.  Third  Year  of  the  Mission. 

The  second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Jai)an  Mission 
was  held  in  Yokohama  June  30-July  5,  1875,  the  exer- 
cises being  conducted  in  the  Bluff  Church,  recently 
opened  by  the  mission  for  public  religious  services. 
All  the  members  of  the  mission  were  present,  and  in 
good  health.  The  annual  sermon  was  preached  in  En- 
glish by  the  Rev.  George  Cochran,  of  the  Canada  Meth- 
odist Mission  in  Japan.  J.  C.  Davison  was  re-elected 
secretary. 

The  reports  from  all  the  stations  of  the  mission  were 
satisfactory  and  cheering.  Among  the  more  prominent 
matters  that  engaged  the  attention  of  the  meeting  were 
the  preparation  of  estimates  for  the  expenses  of  the 
Japan  Mission  during  1876;  the  more  formal  organiza- 
tion of  the  work  under  our  care  in  accordance  with  our 
order  of  Church  government;  the  introduction  of  quar- 
terly meetings  and  Quarterly  Conferences  in  each  of  our 
stations;  a  renewed  appeal  to  the  Missionary  Society  for 
a  re-enforcement  of  missionaries  ;  and  the  report,  offeicd 
by  Dr  Maclay,  giving  an  account  of  his  co-operation 
during  the  year  with  the  committee  engaged  in  the 
translation  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  into  the  Japanese 
language.  Four  adults  were  reported  baptized  during 
the  year,  five  members  of  the  Church  in  full  connection, 
and  twelve  probationers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ing,  of  Hiro- 
saki,  not  having  as  yet  become  members  of  the  Japan 


Third  Year  of  the  Mission.  425 

Mission,  and  being  fully  occupied  with  their  duties  in 
the  school  with  which  they  were  connected,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  four  hundred  miles  from  Yokohama,  were  not 
present  at  the  Annual  Meeting.  Mr.  Ing,  however,  had 
transmitted  very  interesting  information  concerning  his 
work  in  Hirosaki,  and  the  members  of  the  mission  ex- 
pressed hearty  sympathy  with  efforts  put  forth  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ing  for  the  instruction  of  the  Japanese.  The  en- 
tire exercises  of  this  Annual  Meeting  were  intensely  in- 
teresting; the  *discussions  on  the  subjects  that  came 
before  the  members  were  earnest  and  thorough  ;  and  all 
felt  that  the  meeting  had  given  fresh  interest  and  im- 
pulse to  the  work.  It  was  decided  that  the  third  Annual 
Meeting  be  held  in  Yokohama,  commencing  July  i,  1876, 
and,  with  good  hope  and  courage,  the  members  of  the 
mission  separated  for  another  year's  toil. 

The  year  was  marked  by  the  commencement  of 
public  day-schools,  the  formal  organization  of  Church 
classes,  the  introduction  of  quarterly  meetings,  love- 
feasts,  and  Quarterly  Conferences,  the  erection  of  suita- 
ble dwelling-houses  for  the  members  of  the  mission 
resident  in  Yokohama  and  Tokio,  the  erection  of  an 
excellent  chapel  in  Nagasaki,  and  other  matters  indi- 
cating the  steady  and  healthy  growth  of  the  mission. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission,  the  work  of  the 
mission  in  Yokohama  had  been  divided  into  two  cir- 
cuits, named  respectively,  "  Tenando  "  Circuit,  in  charge 
of  which  Mr.  Correll  was  placed ;  and  "  Furocho  "  Circuit, 
in  charge  of  which  Dr.  Maclay  was  placed.  The  first 
joint  Quarterly  Conference  for  these  two  circuits  was  held 
in  Yokohama  September  4,  1875.  In  Nagasaki  Mr.  Da- 
vison concluded,  September  4,  a  contract  for  the  erection 
of  a  mission  chapel  in  a  portion  of  the  city  called  De- 

sima,  on  the  site  of  the  old  Dutch  factory  ;  an  eligible  lot 
28 


426  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

received  without  cost  from  the  Japanese  Government, 
(subject  only  to  the  annual  payment  of  the  ground  rent 
due  the  Government ;)  and  it  was  his  privilege,  January 
30,  1876.  to  open  the  building  for  public  religious  serv- 
ices, the  Rev.  Henry  Stout,  of  the  Mission  of  the  Araei 
ican  Reformed  Church  in  Nagasaki,  preaching  the  ser- 
mon on  the  occasion.  In  Tokio  Mr.  Soper  reports, 
September  16,  1875,  the  organization  of  his  first  class 
of  inquirers  in  a  portion  of  the  city  called  Kanda,  the 
class  comprising  five  persons. 

"October  2,  1875,"  writes  Mr.  Soper,  "we  held  dui 
first  Quarterly  Conference  in  Tokio.  Present,  Dr.  R  S. 
Maclay  and  wife,  Rev.  Julius  Soper  and  wife.  Miss  Schoon- 
maker,  and  two  Japanese — Messrs.  Tsuda  and  Furuka- 
wa.  Next  day  we  held  our  first  love-feast,  about  twenty- 
five  persons  being  present." 

Mr.  Soper's  second  class  in  Tokio  was  organized  Oc- 
tober 12,  1875,  in  a  portion  of  the  city  called  Azabu,  and 
comprised  four  persons,  two  being  members "  of  the 
Church,  and  two  probationers.  On  the  same  day  he 
commenced  giving  Bible  instruction  once  a  week  to 
the  young  men  of  Mr.  Tsuda's  agricultural  school,  an 
exercise  which  he  continued  for  more  than  a  year. 
October  27  Mr.  Soper  removed  his  family  into  the 
new  mission  house,  then  just  completed  on  lot  No.  10, 
Tsukiji,  Tokio.  In  Yokohama  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sion steadily  advanced.  Mr.  Correll,  October  4,  or- 
ganized his  first  class  at  Tenando  Church,  comprising 
five  persons  —  three  members,  tvvo  probationers.  Dr. 
Maclay,  November  6,  organized  his  first  class  at  Furo- 
cho  Chapel,  comprising  five  persons,  one  only  being  a 
member  of  the  Church,  the  others  probationers. 

The  year  1876  opened  auspiciously.  Mr.  Correll, 
January  6,  took  possession  of  the  new  mission  house. 


Third  Year  of  the  Mission.  427 

then  just  completed  on  a  portion  of  Bluff  Lot  No.  222, 
Yokohama,  while,  as  we  have  already  stated,  Mr.  Davi- 
son, January  30,  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  opening  in 
Nagasaki  the  beautiful  church  edifice,  the  construction 
of  which  he  had  supervised  so  efficiently.  April  9, 
four  of  the  pupils  in  Miss  Schoonmaker's  school  were 
baptized  and  received  into  the  Church  by  Mr.  Soper. 
Concerning  her  work  in  Tokio  at  that  time  Miss 
Schoonmaker  writes  :  *'  The  attendance  upon  the  Sab- 
bath services  held  in  the  house  was  good,  and  a  num- 
ber who  were  withheld  from  a  public  profession  of  their 
faith  through  fear  of  the  opposition  of  their  unbelieving 
friends,  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  the  Bible,  and  a 
desire  to  lead  a  true  life." 

April  16  Mr.  Davison,  after  more  than  two  years  of 
faithful  labor,  had  the  privilege  of  baptizing  his  first 
approved  candidates  in  Nagasaki — Mr.  Asuga  Kenjiro, 
together  with  his  wife  and  two  children.  The  entire 
mission  heartily  sympathized  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davison 
in  the  joy  inspired  by  this  cheering  event. 

June  7  Mr.  Soper,  in  Tokio,  opened  another  place 
for  preaching  near  Shiba,  a  place  of  note  in  the  city. 
He  also  published  about  this  time  his  translation  of  the 
Catechism  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

In  Hakodati  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris,  during  the  period 
of  time  now  under  review,  carried  forward  the  work  of 
the  mission  with  unflagging  zeal.  The  exercises  of  the 
daily  Bible-class  were  conducted  with  undiminished  in- 
terest and  increasing  indications  of  encouragement. 
The  attendance  on  the  Sunday  services  had  become, 
on  the  part  of  at  least  a  few  persons,  quite  uniform  and 
devout.  Three  teachers  connected  with  the  Govern- 
ment school  in  Hakodati  were  constant  in  their  attend- 
ance at  these  services,     Mrs.  Harris  was  indefatigable 


42<S  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

in  her  efforts  to  reach  and  instruct  the  women  cf  Hako- 
dati,  and  Mr.  Harris,  in  addition  to  his  more  immediate 
duties  in  Hakodati,  was  actively  engaged  in  initiating 
plans  for  introducing  the  Gospel  into  Sappoia,  Matsu- 
mai,  Awomori,  and  other  places  in  Northern  Japan. 
Such  labors  could  scarcely  fail  of  success;  and  during 
the  year  it  was  the  high  privilege  of  Mr.  Harris  to  ad- 
minister the  ordinance  of  baptism  to  two  approved  can- 
didates, members  of  his  Bible-class,  whom  he  and  Mrs. 
Harris  had,  by  tlieir  faithful  instruction,  brought  to 
accept  Jesus  Christ  as  their  Saviour. 

In  Hirosaki  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ing  continued  their  faithful 
labors,  and  Mr.  Ing,  October  3, 1875,  baptized  eight  more 
of  the  students  in  the  school.  Immediately  after  receiving 
baptism  these  eight  converts,  together  with  tlie  fourteen 
previously  baptized  by  Mr.  Ing,  proceeded,  in  accord- 
ance with  arrangements  previously  made,  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  native  Church,  to  be  connected  with  what 
is  called  the  "Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,"  having  Church 
organizations  in  Yokohama  and  Tokio.  April  2,  1876, 
two  more  of  the  students  in  the  Hirosaki  school  were 
baptized  by  Mr.  Ing. 

8.  Fourth  Year  of  the  Mission. 
The  third  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Japan  Mission  was 
held  in  the  Bluff  Church,  Yokohama,  June  30-July  5. 
1876.  All  the  members,  excepting  Mrs.  Harris,  of 
Hakodati,  were  present.  Their  distance  and  the  press 
ing  character  of  their  duties  in  Hirosaki,  deprived 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ing,  also,  of  the  pleasure  of  attending 
the  meeting.  The  annual  sermon  in  Japanese  was 
preached  by  Dr.  Maclay.  J.  C.  Davison  was  re-elected 
secretary.  It  was  decided  to  use,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
Japanese  language  in   all  the  exercises  of  the  Annual 


Fourtli  Year  of  the  Mission.  429 

Meeting.  For  the  first  time  the  pleasure  was  enjoyed 
of  welcoming  as  attendants  at  the  meeting  some  of  the 
members  of  our  Church  in  America,  (seven  in  number,) 
who  expressed  a  desire  to  share,  whenever  practicable, 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  meeting.  The  reception  of 
these  brethren  was  an  occasion  of  great  joy  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. Their  presence  added  fresh  interest  to  the 
proceedings,  and  both  on  the  platform  of  the  anniver- 
sary exercises,  and  in  the  discussions  of  the  joint  ses- 
sions, they  acquitted  themselves  creditably.  The  pres- 
ence and  address  of  the  Rev.  B.  F.  Edgell,  a  member  of 
the  mission  in  Foochow,  China,  then  making  a  briet 
visit  to  Japan,  hoping  for  benefit  to  his  wife's  health, 
contributed  much  to  the  interest  of  the  occasion.  The 
members  of  the  mission  would  gladly  have  tried  to  per- 
suade Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edgell  to  remain  in  Japan,  but  the 
sinking  health  of  the  invalid  indicated  that,  perhaps, 
such  was  not  the  will  of  God.  Among  the  subjects  that 
received  the  attention  of  the  meeting  may  be  named  the 
preparation  of  estimates  for  the  expenses  of  the  mission 
during  the  year  1877;  the  arrangement  of  a  course  of 
study  for  the  native  helpers;  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Davison  as  a  committee  on  the  preparation  of  a  Hymnal 
/n  Japanese  ;  a  plan  for  revising  and  preparing  for  the 
press  portions  of  the  book  of  Discipline  ;  the  sale  of  one 
of  the  lots  in  Tokio  to  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  ;  and  the  purchase,  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sale, 
of  Bluff  Lot,  No.  221,  in  Yokohama;  Dr.  Maclay's  report 
of  his  co-operation  with  the  committee  engaged  in  trans- 
lating the  sacred  Scriptures  into  the  Japanese  language; 
a  request  to  the  Bishop  in  charge  to  transfer  the  Rev. 
John  Ing  to  the  Japan  Mission;  and  a  continuation  of 
the  appeal  for  additional  missionaries.  The  statistics 
indicated  35  adult  baptisms  during  the  year,  43  mem- 


430*        Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

bers,  30  probationers,  and  7  bajitized  children.  It  was 
voted  to  hold  the  next  Annual  Meeting  in  Tokio. 

The  more  prominent  events  that  transpired  during 
this  year  were:  the  building  of  a  handsome  mission 
chapel  in  Tokio;  the  visit  of  Bishop  Marvin,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South ;  the  erection  of  a 
Home  in  Tokio  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society;  the  commencement  of  mission  out-stations; 
the  transfer  of  the  Rev.  John  Ing  to  the  Japan  Mission; 
the  preparation,  by  the  Rev.  John  C.  Davison,  of  Naga- 
saki, of  a  Japanese  Hymnal  for  the  service  of  the  mission ; 
the  initiation  of  a  course  of  study  for  our  native  helpers, 
with  an  examination  to  be  held  at  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing ;  the  building  of  a  school-house,  together  with  the 
removal  to  a  new  site  of  the  Bluff  Church,  Yokohama; 
and  the  recommendation,  for  admission  on  trial  into 
Annual  Conferences  in  the  United  States,  of  ten  native 
helpers  connected  with  the  mission. 

July  30,  1876,  Mr.  Ing  baptized  two  more  students 
and  the  wife  of  the  native  preacher  in  Hirosaki.  Aug.  8, 
Mr.  Correll,  having  received  a  passport  from  the  Jap- 
anese Government,  made  a  tour  through  a  portion  of 
the  interior  of  Japan,  visiting  the  following  cities,  name- 
ly: Namadzu,  population,  30,000;  Shidzoka,  40,000; 
Yamanashi,  35,000;  and  Hachoji,  25,000;  and  returned 
on  the  23d  of  the  month  to  Yokohama.  Miss  Schoon- 
maker  accompanied  him  as  far  as  Fujiyama,  the  greai 
mountain  of  Japan,  to  the  summit  of  which  they  both 
ascended.  Sept.  5  Mr.  Soper  organized  a  class  in  a 
portion  of  the  city  called  Shiba,  making  his  third  class 
in  Tokio.  Sept.  20  Miss  Olive  Whiting  arrived  in 
Tokio,  to  assist  Miss  Schoonmaker  in  the  work  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  "She  began," 
writes  Miss  Schoonmaker,  "  mission  work  in  connection 


Fourth  Year  of  the  Mission.  43 1 

with  the  school,  and  with  such  perseverance  and  energy 
pushed  forward  that  work  as  to  give  to  the  school  a  new 
and  powerful  impulse  for  good.  But  the  existence  of  the 
school  in  that  locality  was  dependent  upon  the  caprice 
of  one  or  two  jealous  priests,  who  could  at  any  time  set 
it  adrift ;  besides,  the  house  was  far  too  small  for  the 
increasing  work,  and  the  situation  was  unhealthy.  These 
considerations,  with  others,  led  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  would  be  best  to  secure  a  permanent  location  within 
the  Foreign  Concession,  and  erect  a  school-building. 
The  lot  was  purchased  in  July,  and  the  building  begun 
in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1876." 

Hachoji,  one  of  the  places  visited  by  Mr.  Correll  in 
his  tour,  is  an  important  mart  of  trade,  about  twenty- 
eight  miles  north-west  from  Yokohama.  Being  within 
what  was  called  the  treaty  limits,  the  place  can  be  visited 
by  foreigners  without  a  passport;  and  hence  Mr.  Cor- 
rel,  during  the  autumn  of  1876,  went  twice  to  the  town, 
hoping  thus  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  introduction  of 
the  Gospel  there,  and  the  result  of  these  efforts  was 
highly  encouraging.  Bishop  Peck,  in  whose  charge  the 
mission  has  been  from  the  beginning,  wrote  to  the 
mission,  Nov.  10,  1876,  giving  official  announcement  of 
the  transfer  of  the  Rev.  John  Ing  to  the  Japan  Mission. 
Bishop  E.  M.  Marvin,  and  his  traveling  companion,  the 
Rev.  E.  K.  Hendrix,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  arrived  on  Nov.  30,  in  Yokohama,  from  San 
Frarxisco,  and  were  most  cordially  welcomed  by  the 
members  of  the  mission  Resident  in  Yokohama  and 
Tokit).  The  Bishop  and  Mr.  Hendrix  evinced,  in  many 
ways,  a  sincere  interest  in  our  work,  rejoicing  in  all  the 
indications  of  prosperity  with  which  it  had  pleased  God 
to  crown  the  labors  of  the  mission,  and  praying  for  the 
rapid  spread  of  the  truth  in  Japan.     They  remained  tiU 


432  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

December  6,  the  time  for  the  departure  of  the  Japanese 
steamer  for  Shanghai,  China,  making  on  the  way  a 
pleasant  call  on  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davison,  at  Nagasaki. 
The  native  Christians  at  Hirosaki  decided,  Dec.  20, 
to  apply  for  admission  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  subsequently  presented  a  written  state- 
ment of  their  desire  to  Mr.  Ing,  when  they  were  duly 
received  into  the  Church,  on  Dec.  23.  Misses  Schoon- 
maker  and  Whiting  transferred  their  school  to  the  new 
and  commodious  premises  just  completed  on  lot  No.  10, 
Tsukiji,  Tokio. 

January  28,  1877,  the  Rev.  Julius  Soper  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  opening,  for  public  religious  services,  the  neat 
and  eligibly  situated  chapel  which  he  had  just  com- 
pleted on  a  portion  of  the  lot  owned  in  Tokio  by  the 
Missionary  Society.  The  seating  capacity  of  the  build- 
ing is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty;  cost,  about  $1,600. 
Sermons  suitable  to  the  occasion  were  preached  in  Jap- 
anese— in  the  forenoon,  by  Dr.  Maclay,  in  the  afternoon, 
by  Mr.  Correll,  and  in  the  evening,  by  Rev.  David 
Thompson,  of  the  Tokio  Mission  of  the  American  Pres- 
byterian Church,  The  congregations,  through.out  the 
entire  day,  were  large  and  attentive,  and  all  seemed  to 
feel  that  a  brighter  day  had  begun  to  dawn  upon  Ja])an 

The  mission  at  Yokohama,  in  accordance  with  an 
arrangement  approved  by  the  General  Missionary  Com- 
mittee at  its  Annual  Meeting  held  in  New  York,  No- 
vember, 1876,  had  come  into  possession  of  Bluff  T.ot  No. 
221,  immediately  adjoining  the  premises  already  owned 
in  Yokohama  by  our  Missionary  Society;  and  with  a  view 
to  reducing  the  expense  for  payment  of  annual  giound 
rent,  and  at  the  same  time  diminish  the  risk  to  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Society  from  exposure  to  fires,  the  mission, 
icting  on  a  plan  apjiroved  by  the  Board  of  Managers, 


Fourth  Year  of  the  Missio7i.  433 

decided  to  sell  the  lot  on  which  the  Bluff  Church  stood  ; 
to  remove  the  church  building  to  the  lot  just  purchased; 
and,  if  possible,  to  provide,  also,  on  a  portion  of  the  new 
lot,  for  the  erection  of  a  small  building  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  flourishing  day-school  which  had  grown 
up  under  the  care  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Correll.  Attentior. 
to  these  important  interests  necessarily  occupied  a  lar^;e 
portion  of  Mr.  Correll's  time  during  the  early  months 
of  1877;  still  none  of  his  regular  missionary  work  was 
interrupted,  and,  April  3-7,  he  again  visited  Hachoji, 
where  the  good  seed  sown  during  his  former  visits  to 
the  place  had  already  begun  to  spring  up.  April  23, 
1877,  Mr.  Correll  opened  the  school-building  he  had 
built  on  the  new  lot,  and  the  day-school  under  his  care 
rapidly  increased  in  the  number  of  its  pupils,  until  there 
were  sixty  names  on  its  roll.  In  April  Mr.  Ing  bap- 
tized three  young  men  in  Hirosaki,  one  of  them  being 
in  the  Medical  College,  one  a  student  in  the  Normal 
School,  and  the  other,  a  student  in  the  school  taught  by 
Mr.  Ing  in  that  place. 

June  3,  1877,  Mr.  Correll,  in  Yokohama,  had  the 
pleasure  of  re-opening  the  Bluff  Church,  after  its  removal 
to  the  new  situation.  Appropriate  discourses  in  Japan- 
ese were  delivered  during  the  day — in  the  forenoon, 
by  Dr.  Maclay;  in  the  afternoon,  by  Mr.  Soper;  and 
in  the  evening  by  the  Rev.  James  H.  Ballagh,  of  the 
American  Reformed  Church  Mission  in  Yokohama. 
The  attendance  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  was  highly 
gratifying;  and  a  goodly  number  of  the  foreign  mission- 
aries and  other  friends  in  Yokohama  were  present  on 
the  occasion.  The  building  will  seat  over  three  hun- 
dred persons,  presents  a  tasteful  appearance,  occupies  a 
fine  position,  and  supplies  a  most  urgent  need  of  the 
mission  in  Yokohama.     The  entire  cost  of  removing  the 


434         Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

building  was  a  little  over  three  hundred  dollais.  June 
5-16  Dr.  Maclay  visited  Nishiwo,  a  town  situated  in 
the  Aichi  Ken,  about  two  hundred  miles  in  a  south 
westerly  direction  from  Yokohama,  where  Mr.  Oharn 
one  of  our  native  members,  had  been  instructing  a  class 
of  inquirers  for  nearly  six  months?  Five  of  the  inquiren 
were  baptized  and  received  into  the  Church;  a  Church- 
class,  comprising  the  baptized  members  and  five  proba- 
tioners, was  organized ;  a  chapel  was  rented,  and  placed 
in  charge  of  Mr.  Ohara;  and  all  the  necessary  prelimi- 
nary arrangements  were  made  for  constituting  the  place 
an  out-station  of  the  mission.  "June  23,  1877,"  Mrs. 
Ing  writes,  "in  the  midst  of  hurried  preparations  for 
departure  from  their  houses  to  join  the  army,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  earnest  call  of  the  Government,  the  Church 
members  found  time  to  come  together  for  the  solemn 
services  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Three  re 
ceived  baptism,  two  being  students;  the  third,  the  hon- 
ored and  beloved  president  of  the  scliool.  Twenty-four 
communicants  then  testified  their  love  to  Christ  at  his 
table.  Nine  members  of  the  Church,  with  many  others, 
left  us  the  next  day  for  the  capital." 

9.  Fifth  Year  of  the  Mission. 
The  fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Japan  Mission  was 
held  'n  Tokio,  July  10-16,  1877,  the  exercises  being 
conducted  in  the  mission-chajiel  built  by  Mr.  Sopcr 
(luring  the  present  mission  year.  All  the  members  of 
ihe  mission  were  present,  with  the  exception  of  Mrs. 
Harris,  absent  on  a  brief  visit  to  the  United  States  ;  and 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ing,  detained  by  the  "urgency  of  their 
duties  in  Hirosaki.  The  annual  sermon  was  preached 
in  Japanese,  by  Mr.  Davison.  Mr.  Davison  and  Mr. 
K.udo  Tomonari  were  elected  secretaries.     At  the  Bible 


Fifth  Year  of  the  Mission.  435 

anniversary,  Dr.  L,  H.  Gulick,  agent  for  Japan  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  was  present,  and  delivered  an 
excellent  address,  interpreted  by  Mr.  Harris,  a  copy  of 
which,  in  Japanese,  was  immediately  requested  by  a 
native  gentleman  in  the  audience,  for  publication  in  one 
of  the  Tokio  newspapers.  The  native  helpers  of  the 
mission  passed  very  satisfactory  examinations  on  the 
course  of  study  prescribed  for  them ;  and  in  all  the  joint 
sessions  of  the  Annual  Meeting  for  the  transaction  of 
business,  co-operated  most  cordially  with  the  members 
of  the  mission.  The  following  native  helpers,  after  be- 
ing carefully  examined,  were  duly  recommended  for 
admission  on  trial  in  Annual  Conferences  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  namely: 
Kumiori  Sayehashi,  Onuki  Bunshichi,  and  Ohara 
Yekichi,  to  the  Baltimore  Annual  Conference ;  Asuga 
Kenjiro,  to  the  Newark  Annual  Conference;  and  Kudo 
Tomorari,  to  the  Philadelphia  Annual  Conference.  It 
was  also  arranged  that  the  following  helpers,  after  due 
examination  by  the  Quarterly  Conferences  with  which 
they  were  connected,  should  also  be  recommended, 
namely:  Kekuchi  Takuhei,  to  the  Newark  Annual 
Conference;  Abbe  Kenro,  to  the  Philadelphia  Annual 
Conference;  and  Kosugi  Riyohi  and  Aibara  Yeiken, 
to  the  Baltimore  Annual  Conference. 

Mr.  Davison  presented  to  the  meeting  a  collection  of 
fifty -three  hymns  and  four  doxologies,  which,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  request  of  the  last  Annual  Meeting,  he 
had  prepared  for  publication.  "  More  than  thirty  of 
these  hymns,"  writes  Mr.  Davison,  "had  never  been 
translated  before  [into  Japanese] ;  while  more  than  half 
the  rest  were  translated  by  us  anew,  and  are  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  former  translations  by  other  parties, 
though  with  what  success  it  is  not  for  me  to  say.     The 


43^  Methoimst  Ki'iscorAL  Missions. 

others  are  mostly  original  hymns  written  by  natives, 
and  some  by  foreigners;  all  of  which,  however,  appear 
slightly  altered  in  our  edition."  Mr.  Davison,  as  an 
experiment,  appended  seven  pieces  of  music  to  his  col- 
lection of  hymns,  the  music  comprising  some  of  the 
tunes  to  be  used  in  the  hymn  book.  The  book  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Davison  contains  many  well-known  hymns, 
beginning  as  follows:  "A  charge  to  keep  I  have;"  "Am 
I  a  soldier  of  the  cross;"  "Children  of  the  heavenly 
King;"  "Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul;"  "O,  how  happy  are 
they;"  "Pass  me  not,  O  gentle  Saviour;"  and  others 
of  a  similar  character.  The  members  of  the  mission 
were  highly  pleased  with  the  translations,  and  an  edition 
of  five  hundred  copies  was  authorized.  A  much  larger 
edition  would  have  been  ordered  if  there  had  been  funds 
for  the  purpose. 

Another  feature  of  this  Annual  Meeting  was  tlie  joint 
conference  held,  during  the  afternoon  of  July  13,  1878, 
with  the  members  of  the  Canada  Methodist  Mission, 
then  conducting  their  Annual  Meeting  in  Tokio,  and 
the  members  of  our  mission.  The  meeting  was  con- 
vened in  Mr,  Soper's  residence,  and  was  attended  by 
nearly  all  the  members  of  each  mission.  Tlie  Rev. 
George  Cochran,  superintendent  of  the  Canada  Meth- 
odist Mission,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  the  Rev.  J.  C. 
Davison,  of  our  mission,  was  appointed  secretary.  The 
two  topics  presented  for  consideration  at  this  conference 
were,  a  proposal  for  the  joint  preparation  of  a  hymn 
book,  which  could  be  accepted  and  used  by  both  mis- 
sions, and  the  consideration  of  a  plan  by  which  the 
translations  of  our  respective  books  of  Discipline  might, 
as  far  as  practicable,  conform  to  each  other.  With  re- 
gard to  the  first  subject,  the  opinion  prevailed  that,  at 
least  for  the  present,  we  could  all  accept  and  use  the 


Fifth  Year  of  the  Mission.  437 

hymns  prepared'  by  Mr.  Davison;  and  that  h-ereafter 
the  Hymn  Book  Committee  of  the  Canada  Methodist 
mission  would  co-operate  with  Mr.  Davison,  of  our 
mission,  in  the  translation  of  other  hymns,  to  be  added 
to  the  present  collection.  With  regard  to  the  second 
subject  introduced,  it  was  cordially  assented  to  by  all. 
that  while,  in  places  where  the  texts  of  our  respective 
books  of  Discipline  differ,  each  mission  is  bound  to  fol- 
low in  translation  the  text  of  its  own  book,  in  all  places 
where  the  texts  agree  we  should  endeavor  to  obtain  a 
uniform  version  in  Japanese;  and  that,  throughout  the 
work,  by  adopting  the  same  style  of  translation,  and,  as 
far  as  practicable,  the  same  ecclesiastical  terminology, 
we  should  seek  to  show  the  essential  agreement  of  the 
Churches  we  represent,  in  matters  of  doctrine  and 
church  polity.  The  entire  spirit  of  the  conference  was 
earnest,  courteous,  and  Christian;  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  refreshed  and  united  all  hearts;  and  the 
conference,  both  in  its  immediate  and  ultimate  results, 
cannot  fail  to  promote  the  cause  of  Christian  missions 
in  Japan.  The  missionaries  of  the  Evangelical  Associa- 
tion— the  Rev.  F.  Krecker,  M.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Adolph 
Halmhuber — then  residing  in  Yokohama,  were  invited 
to  the  conference,  but  sickness  prevented  them  from 
^attending.  Dr.  Krecker,  however,  in  his  letter  to  the 
committee  of  invitation,  expressed  most  cordially  his 
full  sympathy  with  the  object  of  the  conference.  Thu.^ 
the  Methodisms  of  Japan  are  substantially  a  unit. 

The  subject  of  Christian  education  in  Japan  engaged 
the  serious  attention  of  the  fourth  Annual  Meeting.  In 
the  spring  of  1876  the  mission  had  forwarded  to  the 
Missionary  Society  an  earnest  appeal  on  this  subject, 
recommending  the  immediate  establishment  at  Yoko- 
hama of  a   Mission   Training  School.     The  Board  of 


438  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Managers,  in  response  to  that  appeal,  recognized  the 
importance  of  the  proposed  school,  but,  in  view  of  the 
financial  pressure  in  the  United  States,  was  unable  to 
advance  the  necessary  funds,  and,  therefore,  declined 
to  authorize  the  initiation  of  the  enterprise.  Fifteen 
months  had  passed  since  the  failure  of  this  appeal,  and, 
the  conviction  of  the  importance  of  the  proposed  school 
steadily  growing  stronger,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by 
the  Annual  Meeting  urging  upon  the  Board  of  Managers 
the  importance  of  responding  at  once,  and  favorably,  to 
this  loud  call. 

The  reports  presented  to  this  Annual  Meeting  with 
regard  to  the  state  of  the  work  of  the  mission  at  all  the 
stations  were  very  encouraging.  The  members  of  the 
mission  had  been  permitted  to  prosecute  their  labors 
during  the  year  without  serious  interruption  from  sick- 
ness, or  any  other  cause ;  the  Japanese,  with  greater 
courage  and  in  larger  numbers  than  ever  before,  had 
listened  to  the  public  preaching  of  the  missionaries,  or 
gathered  in  Bible-classes  to  receive  daily  instruction  in 
the  word  of  God;  the  day-schools  under  the  care  of  the 
mission  had  been  very  prosperous ;  the  number  of 
Church  members  in  full  connection  had  increased  to 
ninety-nine;  the  openings  for  Christian  work  had  never 
before  been  so  important  and  inviting;  the  prospect  for 
early  fruit-gathering  had  never  been  so  cheering;  and 
now,  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  Annual  Meeting,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  mission  separated,  and,  in  humble  depend- 
ence on  the  promised  presence  and  blessing  of  tht 
Master,  started  once  more  for  their  respective  fields  of 
labor.  Il  was  decided  to  hold  the  next  Annual  Meet- 
ing of  the  mission  in  Yokohama,  during  the  early  part 
of  July,  1878. 


Sixth  Year  of  the  Mission.  439 

10.  Sixth  Year  of  the  Mission. 

The  sixth  year  of  the  Japan  Mission  opened  amid 
scenes  of  rejoicing  in  Japan.  The  formidable  rebellion 
in  Satsuma,  directed  by  Saigo,  Kirino,  Murata,  and 
other  warriors  of  high  repute,  had  just  been  crushed; 
peace  once  more  reigned  throughout  the  empire;  and 
all  classes  of  society,  relieved  from  the  terrible  scoarge 
of  civil  war,  were  uniting  in  public  demonstrations  of 
joy.  There  were,  indeed,  substantial  grounds  for  re- 
joicing. The  people  of  Japan  had  narrowly  escaped  a 
great  disaster.  The  Satsuma  rebellion,  in  the  southern 
portion  of  Japan,  which,  during  the  closing  part  of 
1876  and  the  former  half  of  1877  had  depressed  busi- 
ness, suspended  commerce,  devastated  the  fairest  por- 
tion of  the  country,  and  haughtily  challenged  the  exist- 
ing Government  to  the  bloody  arbitrament  of  the  sword, 
was  one  of  the  most  formidable  dangers  that  had  ever 
confronted  the  civil  authorities  of  Japan.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  complete  triumph  of  the  Govern- 
ment, bringing  in  its  wake  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
the  revival  of  business  and  trade,  and  the  assured  con- 
tinuance of  the  Government  in  the  career  of  progress 
and  reform  upon  which  it  had  entered,  was  hailed  with 
joy  by  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  Japan.  The 
causes  which  produced  the  Satsuma  rebellion  were  not 
at  this  period  fully  made  public.  Dissatisfaction  of 
the  former  nobility  and  gentry  with  the  arrangements 
made  by  the  Government  in  regard  to  their  pensions, 
and  the  failure  of  the  Government  to  respond  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  people  for  a  representative  Parliament — 
together  with  personal  jealousies  and  rivalries  among  the 
highest  officers  of  the  realm,  had  been  assigned  as  the 
causes  of  this  fratricidal  struggle,  in  which  the  resources 


440  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

of  the  country,  to  the  extent  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars, 
and  the  lives  of  probably  fifty  thousand  Japanese,  were 
sacrificed. 

During  September  and  October,  1877,  the  cholera 
visited  Japan,  and,  notwithstanding  the  prompt  and  ju- 
dicious measures  adopted  by  the  Government  to  arrest 
its  progress,  the  disease  raged  with  considerable  vio- 
lence in  Yokohama,  Tokio,  Osaka,  and  many  other 
places.  In  Yokohama  the  public  work  of  the  mission 
was  suspended  during  the  time  the  cholera  prevailed. 
At  the  other  stations  of  the  mission,  where  the  disease 
was  less  violent,  the  labors  of  the  missionaries  were  not 
interrupted.  We  record  with  gratitude  the  merciful 
preservation  of  all  the  members  of  our  mission  from 
"  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  the  de- 
struction that  wasteth  at  noonday." 

Mr.  Harris,  in  September,  1877,  baptized  fifteen  of 
the  students  connected  with  the  agricultural  college  of 
Sappora,  capital  of  the  island  of  Yesso.  This  institution 
was  founded,  August,  1876,  by  the  Government  of  Ja- 
pan. Its  faculty  comprised  three  foreign  and  five  Japa- 
nese professors.  In  1878  it  numbered  sixty-two  stu- 
dents. The  young  men  baptized  by  Mr.  Harris  had  been 
carefully  instructed  in  Christian  doctrines  by  the  foreign 
Professors  connected  with  the  college,  to  whom  high 
])raise  is  due  for  their  judicious  and  persevering  efforts 
to  impart  to  the  young  men  under  their  care  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  great  salvation  provided  for  the  human  race 
by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  W.  S.  Clark,  LL.D.,  one  of 
the  Professors  in  this  institution,  and  previously  Presi- 
dent of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  U.  S.A., 
was  very  active  in  this  good  work  ;  and  after  Dr.  Clark's 
ri-turn  to  the  United  States  Professor  Wheeler  continued 
iinliiing  in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  Christian  training 


Six//i  Ycgr  of  the  Mission.  441 

of  the  young  men  under  his  care.  "  These  young  men," 
wrote  Mr.  Harris,  "  seem  to  be  very  earnest.  They 
write  me  that  during  their  intervals  of  leisure  they 
leach  the  Bible  to  the  children  outside  the  school. 
They  conduct  a  weekly  prayer- meeting,  and  I  think  all 
of  them  pray  in  public.  On  Sabbath  they  meet  for  woi  • 
ship  and  the  study  of  the  Bible.  Professor  Wheeler 
gives  them  a  lesson  in  the  Scriptures  at  that  time. 
These  young  men  are  of  good  families,  and  will,  doubt- 
less, be  valuable  to  the  young  Church  of  Japan." 

October  3,  1877,  Bishop  I.  W.  Wiley  and  family,  ac- 
companied by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Lowry  and  family,  of  our 
Peking  Mission,  and  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Benton,  of  our 
mission  in  Kiukiang,  China,  arrived  in  Yokohama  from 
San  Francisco,  in  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company's 
steamer  "  City  of  Peking,"  and,  after  spending  the  night 
with  the  families  of  the  mission  in  Yokohama,  proceeded 
a-t  four  P.  M.  next  day  in  the  Mitsu  Bishi  Steamship 
Company's  steamer  "  Tokio  Maru,"  on  their  way  to 
China,  it  being  the  Bishop's  plan  to  visit  first  the  mis- 
sions in  China,  and  then,  on  his  return,  spend  February, 
1878,  in  Japan,  visiting  the  stations  of  our  missions  in 
that  country. 

October  4,  Kudo  Tomonari,  one  of  Mr.  Correll's 
helpers,  started  from  Yokohama  to  take  charge  of  an 
out-station  of  our  mission  in  Hachoji,  Kanagawa  Ken, 
which  Mr.  Correll  had  commenced  in  that  place. 

October  23,  Mr.  Correll,  having  procured  a  pass- 
port, started  on  a  tour  through  what  is  knowri  as  the 
Shinshu  country.  Among  many  other  places  he  vis- 
ited an  important  town  called  Matsumoto,  where  he 
remained  ten  days,  and  had  excellent  opportunities  for 
orivately  preaching  the  Gospel  both  in  Matsumoto  and 

in  the  smaller  towns  near  to  it.     The  people  described 
29 


44-  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Uiemsclves  to  Mr.  Correll  as  being  a  people  without  any 
religion.  A  few  years  ago  they  had  destroyed  their 
idols,  pulled  down  their  temples,  and,  removing  all 
traces  of  their  former  (Buddhistic)  faith,  had  deter- 
mined to  live  without  any  system  of  religion.  The  re- 
sult of  the  experiment,  however,  was  not  satisfactory ; 
they  felt  the  necessity  of  a  faith  in  a  higher  power; 
and,  recognizing  in  the  doctrines  Mr.  Correll  preached 
something  that  responded  to  the  profounder  wants 
of  their  nature,  they  expressed  an  earnest  desire  to  re- 
ceive Christian  instruction.  About  three  hundred 
persons,  representing  nearly  every  class  of  society, 
voluntarily  gave  their  names  to  Mr.  Correll  as  candi- 
dates for  Christian  baptism.  November  14  Mr  Correll 
returned  to  Yokohama,  and  at  once  began  to  arrange 
for  sending  a  native  helper  to  instruct  these  eager  in- 
quirers. 

November  8,  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Davisson  and  wife 
arrived  in  Yokohama  from  San  Francisco  to  join  thv? 
Japan  Mission,  being  the  first  re-enforcement  of  the 
mission  from  the  United  States  by  the  Parent  Board, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davisson  remained  in  Yokohama  till  No- 
vember 20,  when  they  departed  by  steamer  for  Hako- 
dati,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Harris,  of  that  place,  who 
had  visited  Yokohama  on  business  connected  with  hii 
church-building  enterprise,  and  was  at  that  time  return- 
ing to  his  station.  He  commenced,  in  July,  1877,  th»: 
erection  of  a  church  edifice  in  that  place,  and  the  build- 
ing was  completed  about  the  last  of  November.  It  is 
a  neat,  substantial  structure,  and  will  greatly  promote 
the  work  in  Hakodati. 

November  17,  Mr.  Soper,  in  company  with  one  of 
his  native  helpers,  made  a  tour  into  the  interior,  vis- 
iting a  town  called  Ajiki,  in   the  province  of  Shimosn, 


Sixth  Year  of  the  Mission.  443 

situated  about  tliirty-five  miles  north-east  of  Tokio. 
Here  Mr.  Soper  organized  a  class  (his  fourth)  of  thir- 
teen members.  He  regards  this  as  a  most  promising 
field. 

During  the  autumn  of  1877  Mr,  T.  C.  Davison,  of 
Nagasaki,  sent  his  native  helper,  Mr.  Asuga,  on  a 
preaching  tour  through  a  portion  of  Kiushiu,  and 
thence  by  Japanese  junk  to  an  island  off  the  coast  of 
Corea,  where  some  of  his  friends  live.  Mr.  Asuga  re- 
turned in  safety  from  his  long  tour,  feeling  encouraged 
by  the  results  of  his  first  effort  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
the  "  regions  beyond." 

January  14,  1878,  Mr.  Kikuchi,  one  of  the  students 
connected  with  Mr.  Ing's  school  in  Hirosali,  st^arted 
from  Yokohama  in  the  steamer  "  Gaelic  "  for  San  Fran- 
cisco, en  route  to  Greencastle,  Indiana,  expecting  to 
pursue  his  studies  in  the  Indiana  Asbury  University, 
Four  of  his  fellow- students  in  Hirosaki,  namely,  Messrs, 
Chunda,  Kawamura,  Sato,  and  Nasu,  had  in  July,  1877, 
preceded  him  to  Greencastle,  so  that,  including  Mr.  Ki- 
kuchi, there  will  be  five  of  Mr.  Ing's  students  pursuing 
their  studies  in  the  Indiana  Asbury  University.  They 
were  all  very  promising  young  men,  and,  being  sincere 
Christians,  promised  to  render  good  service  in  teaching 
Christian  truth  in  Japan. 

Miss  Schoonmaker,  referring  to  the  work  of  her  so- 
ciety in  Tokio,  wrote  :  "  For  one  or  two  months  the 
school  suffered  in  consequence  of  its  removal  from  the 
former  situation,  but  it  soon  rallied,  and  at  the  present 
writing  (January,  1878)  numbers  twenty-eight  or  thirty 
boarders,  and  twelve  or  fourteen  day  scholars.  During 
the  year  four  persons  connected  with  the  school  have 
been  baptized,  and  five  others  have  been  accepted  as 
probationers,  and  will,  if  faithful,  receive  baptism  at  the 


444  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

end  of  their  six  months'  probation.  The  school  has  one 
Bible  woman  at  work,  and  hopes  soon  to  have  one  oi 
two  more  engaged  in  the  same  manner.  The  Sabbath 
services  are  well  attended,  and  if  certain  felt  wants  can 
be  promptly  met,  the  work  promises  to  go  on  gloriously. 
These  wants  are,  briefly,  a  little  more  land,  an  addi 
tional  building  for  the  school,  and  at  least  two  more 
teachers  from  home,  to  be  here  ready  for  work  by  the 
autumn  of  1878,  God  has  greatly  blessed  the  school, 
and  if  those  at  home  who  have  its  interests  at  heart  will 
aid  it  generously  by  their  money  and  prayers,  it  has  be- 
fore it  a  grand  future  in  its  work  for  Japan's  down-trod- 
den women." 

Mr.  Davison,  referring  to  the  work  of  the  mission  in 
Nagasaki,  writes,  December  15,  1877: — 

"As  to  the  prospects  of  our  work,  I  firmly  believe  v.-e 
are  to  reap  our  greatest  harvest  away  from  the  0])en 
port.  When  we  can  do  this  is,  of  course,  uncertain  ; 
still  our  labor  is  not  lost  here,  and  must  be  kept  going. 
Whenever  we  go  into  the  country  we  meet  those  who 
have  heard  the  word  at  some  one  of  the  preaching 
places  now  open  here,  and  we  can  feel  that  there  has 
been  much  done  by  this  public  preaching  in  wearing 
away  the  fears  of  the  people,  though  there  is  still  a 
world  of  difficulties  to  be  encountered  before  we  may 
hope  to  see  the  ready  response  to  our  appeals  such  as 
you  get  to  yours.  Our  new  station  will  be  in  a  very 
favorable  locality  in  the  city,  where  we  hope  to  ojjen  as 
soon  as  possible.  Our  urgent  need  is  at  least  two  more 
men,  and  a  force  of  two  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  to  open  a  school.  Satsuma  will  need 
constant  visiting  before  new  men  can  be  nearly  ready  to 
relieve  me  here.  The  people  of  Satsuma  may  be  said 
to  be  without  any  religion,  and  they  hate  the  Shinshu 


Sixth  Year  of  the  Mission.  445 

sect  worse  than  they  do  Christianity.  In  fact,  it  seems 
they  turn  out  in  large  numbers  to  hear  the  new  doctrine 
from  natives  who  have  been  going  through  the  province 
lately." 

Mr.  Harris  wrote,  January  11,  1878,  concerning  the 
work  of  the  mission  in  Hakodati,  to  the  following  effect, 
namely : — 

"  The  interest  in  the  work  at  Hakodati  steadily  in- 
creases, and  in  a  few  years  we  may  hope  to  see  a  large 
and  flourishing  society  here." 

Mr.  Ing  writes,  December  26,  1877,  concerning  the 
work  in  Hirosaki,  saying  : — 

"The  work  in  Hirosaki  (population  33,631)  is  growing 
larger,  and  more  and  more  interesting  all  the  time.  We 
have  had  open  a  preaching  place  in  a  very  eligible  po- 
sition in  Dode-machi,  the  principal  street  of  Hirosaki. 
Here  we  have  had  regularly  two  services  per  week, 
each  about  two  hours  long,  and  from  the  beginning  the 
interest  and  the  attendance  encouraging.  As  many  as 
two  hundred  and  fifty  have  been  in  attendance  upon 
those  at  once,  more  than  half  of  whom  are  compelled 
to  stand  outside,  winter  though  it  be,  from  want  of  room 
within  the  building,  that  is  hardly  half  large  enough. 
There  is  unmistakably  a  great  work  already  accom- 
plished by  the  services  in  this  place,  but  as  yet  there  is 
nothing  that  can  be  tabulated  beyond  the  consideration 
that  the  people  have  been  not  a  little  moved  by  the 
powerful  appeals  of  the  brethren,  to  which  they  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  listening.  I  feel  sorry  for  many  of 
this  congregation  that  are  compelled  to  stand  out  of 
doors  these  cold,  wintry  nights,  when  the  ground  is 
covered  with  snow,  in  order  to  hear  the  Gospel,  and 
that  we  must  have  more  commodious  quarters  ere  long 
for  these  attentive  hearers  of  the  word  is  evident. 


446  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

"  The  Eta  work  must  liave  a  little  attention  just  here. 
Kojimachi  is  tlie  name  of  that  part  of  Hirosaki  occupied 
by  this  Pariah  class,  which,  judging  from  the  size  of  their 
part  of  the  city,  must  number  an  aggregate  of  near  two 
thousand.  Mitford  says  of  this  class  in  Japan  :  'Tlieii 
occupation  is  to  slay  beasts,  work  leather,  attend  upon 
criminals,  and  do  other  degrading  work.  As  to  their 
origin,  the  most  probable  account  is,  that  when  Bud- 
dhism was  introduced,  the  tenets  of  which  forbid  the 
taking  of  life,  those  who  had  lived  by  the  infliction  of 
death  became  accursed  in  the  land,  their  trade  being 
made  hereditary,  as  was  the  office  of  executioner  in 
some  of  the  countries  of  Europe.  Another  story  is,  that 
they  are  the  descendants  of  the  Tartar  invaders  left  be- 
hind by  Kublai  Khan.' 

"  Last  Sabbath  evening  one  week  ago,  in  company 
with  Brothers  Honda,  Yamada,  and  others,  I  visited  the 
preaching  place  that  we  had  secured  among  this  people 
by  Brother  Yamada's  skillful  management,  who  was  ac- 
quainted with  one  of  their  principal  men.  An  audience 
of  about  fifty  persons,  men,  women,  and  children,  assem- 
bled shortly  after  dark,  and  listened  attentively  to  our 
singing  and  the  discourses  made  by  the  two  brethren 
aforementioned  for  about  two  hours.  The  leading  men 
among  them  were  present,  and  all  seemed  well  pleased 
with  the  services.  For  the  present,  meetings  are  held 
with  them  only  once  a  week.  I  think  one  school  will 
be  opened  to  this  class  very  soon,  as  Brothers  Honda 
and  Kikuchi  have  had  the  matter  under  consideration 
for  some  time;  but  their  decision,  if  they  have  reached 
one,  has  not  yet  been  made  known  to  me.  A  night 
school  has  been  opened  in  Dode-machi,  Hirosaki,  by  a 
company  of  twenty  young  men  of  the  shop-keeper  class, 
who  have  asked  Brothers  Honda  and  Wakiyama,  and 


Sixth  Year  of  the  Mission.  447 

others  of  our  school,  to  assist  them.  Tliiis  the  old  lines 
of  caste  are  being  broken.  God  is  evidently  leavening 
the  whole  lump. 

"  The  prospects  of  the  work  in  Hirosaki  and  the  re- 
gion round  about  could  hardly  be  better;  the  field  is 
'white  unto  the  harvest,'  and  we  have  laborers  at  hand 
Brother  Honda,  our  colporteur,  employed  by  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society,  has  been  canvassing  Awomori  Ken, 
comprising  a  population  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand, and  we  are  in  possession  of  most  encouraging 
details  from  his  field  of  operations.  Every-where  he 
went  he  had  opportunities  for  preaching  to  the  people, 
and  selling  a  few  portions  of  the  Scriptures.  This 
month  he  has  been  operating  in  the  country  north-west 
from  Hirosaki,  embracing  a  considerable  extent  of  ter- 
ritory on  the  north-west  coast  of  Japan." 

During  the  autumn  of  the  year  1877  Mrs.  Correll,  in 
Yokohama,  commenced  a  day  school  for  girls,  the  funds 
being  supplied  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety. The  teacher  of  the  school  was  a  Japanese  lady, 
who  visited  America  a  few  years  before,  and  who  was 
much  interested  in  trying  to  help  forward  the  work  of 
Christian  missions  in  Japan.  Mrs.  Correll  was,  also, 
trying,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  to  employ  as  Bible-reader  one  or 
two  of  our  Japanese  Christian  women — an  agency  which 
had  proved  so  successful  in  otlier  mission  fields,  and 
which  was  admirably  adapted  to  the  wants  of  Japan. 

1  1.  Bishop  Wiley's  Visitation. 

February  7,  1S78,  Bishop  Wiley,  accompanied  by  his 
wife  and  daughter,  arrived  in  Yokohama  from  Hong- 
kong, China.  The  following  day,  the  Bishop,  attended 
by  Dr.  Maclay,  embarked  for  Hakodati  on  board  the 


448  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Japanese  steamer  "  Takacliiho  Maru,"  and,  after  a  pleas 
ant  passage,  arrived  at  their  destination  the  evening  of 
February  ii.  Early  next  morning  the  Bishop  landed, 
and  called  at  the  Methodist  Mission  House,  to  the  great 
joy  of  Mr.  Harris,  missionary  in  charge,  and  the  Rev.  W. 
C.  Davisson  and  wife,  who  were  spending  the  winter 
here,  expecting  to  proceed  to  Hirosaki  early  in  the 
coming  spring.  The  Bishop  spent  ten  days  in  Hako- 
dati,  during  which  time  he  made  a  thorough  examina- 
tion of  the  field  and  the  work  under  the  care  of  Mr. 
Harris,  and,  by  his  judicious  counsel  and  hearty  sympa- 
thy with  the  missionary  cause,  gave  a  powerful  impetus 
to  the  work  of  our  mission  in  Hakodati.  While  in  Ha- 
kodati  Bishop  Wiley  dedicated  the  new  church  edifice 
which  Mr.  Harris  had  recently  completed ;  ordained 
the  Rev.  Yoitsu  Honda  to  the  office  of  deacon  in  the 
ministry  of  our  Church;  administered  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per to  the  native  Church,  and,  at  the  request  of  Mr, 
Harris,  administered  the  rite  of  baptism  to  four  adults; 
preached  once  to  an  English-speaking  audience,  and 
delivered  three  addresses,  which  were  translated  to  the 
native  Church  ;  wrote  two  letters — one  to  the  Christian 
believers  in  the  agricultural  college  in  Sapporo,  and  one 
to  the  native  Church  in  Hirosaki ;  and  in  many  other 
ways  labored  earnestly  and  successfully  for  the  promo- 
tion of  the  work  of  our  mission  in  Hakodati. 

February  22  Bishop  Wiley  embarked  at  Hakodati  on 
board  the  Japanese  steamer  "Akitsushima  Maru,"  and 
the  morning  of  February  25  arrived  safely  in  Yokohama. 
March  2  he  took  passage  in  the  Japanese  steamer  "  To- 
kio  Maru  "  for  Nagasaki,  and  arrived  there  safely  the 
evening  of  March  6,  receiving  a  most  hearty  welcome 
from  Mr.  Davison  and  wife,  our  devoted  and  faithful 
missionary   workers   at   that    station.       Tlie    Bishop   re- 


Bishop  Wiley  s  Visitation.  449 

mained  ten  days  in  Nagasaki,  and  labored  unceasingly 
to  promote  the  interests  of  our  work  there.  After  a 
careful  examination  of  the  field  he  directed  Mr.  Davison 
m  the  selection  of  an  admirable  site  for  a  native  chapel 
and  school  building,  which  will  supply  a  most  urgent 
need  of  our  work  in  Nagasaki.  At  Mr.  Davison's  re- 
quest he  administered  the  rite  of  baptism  to  two  adults. 
He  also  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  the  native 
Church,  and  delivered  a  most  excellent  address,  which 
Mr.  Davison  translated  to  a  large  audience  of  Japanese. 
The  Bishop's  visit  to  Nagasaki  afforded  very  great  com- 
fort and  encouragement  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davison,  and 
in  every  way  had  helped  forward  the  work  of  our  mis- 
sion in  that  field. 

March  16  the  Bishop  embarked  on  the  "  Tokio  Maru," 
and  March  21,  arrived  safely  in  Yokohama,  from  which 
place,  on  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  he  proceeded  by 
the  railway  train  to  Tokio,  where  he  rejoined  his  family, 
and  was  most  cordially  welcomed  by  Rev.  Julius  Soper 
and  wife. 

Bishop  Wiley  remained  eight  days  in  Tokio,  and  gave 
most  earnest  attention  to  the  character  and  demands  of 
this  most  important  station  of  our  mission  in  Japan. 
The  Bishop  preached  Sunday  forenoon,  March  24,  to  a 
deliglited  audience  of  English-speaking  people ;  bap- 
tized, at  Mr.  Soper's  request,  nine  adults ;  delivered  an 
excellent  address,  which  was  translated  by  Mr.  Soper,  to 
the  native  Church ;  made,  in  company  with  Mr.  Soper, 
a  personal  examination  of  Tokio,  as  a  field  for  mission- 
ary operations ;  and  in  many  other  ways,  by  his  intelli- 
gent advice  and  sympathy,  very  greatly  refreshed  the 
faithful  laborers  of  our  mission  in  Tokio,  and  contributed 
to  the  promotion  of  our  work  there. 

March  29  the  Bishop  and  his  family  returned  from 


450  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Tokio  to  Yokohama.  Having  previously,  in  the  prose- 
cution of  his  tour  of  official  visitation  to  China  and 
Japan,  called  four  times  at  Yokohama,  the  calls  varying 
in  length  from  twenty-four  hours  to  five  days,  the 
Bishop,  by  diligent  inquiries  and  observation,  had  al- 
ready acquired  an  accurate  conception  of  the  claims  of 
Yokohama  as  a  field  for  missionary  operations.  But 
notwithstanding  his  previous  opportunities,  during  tlu^ 
last  days  of  his  visitation  to  Japan  he  devoted  himself 
with  untiring  assiduity  to  a  thorough  examination  of 
Yokohama  and  the  work  of  our  mission  there;  and, 
also,  to  a  review  of  the  entire  work  of  our  mission  in 
Japan,  all  of  which  he  had  carefully  studied,  and  nearly 
all  of  which  he  had  seen. 

Sunday  forenoon,  March  31,  he  preached  a  model 
sermon  to  a  thoroughly  appreciative  audience  of  En- 
glish-speaking people  in  the  Union  Church  of  Yoko- 
hama. Before  preaching  in  English  the  Bishop,  at  half- 
past  nine  A.  M.,  had  met  the  members  and  friends  of 
our  native  Church  in  our  mission  chapel  on  the  Bluff, 
and  delivered  to  them  a  very  appropriate  address,  which 
was  translated  by  Mr.  Correll.  The  address  and  its 
translation  were  listened  to  with  deep  interest  by  a 
large  and  intelligent  audience  of  Japanese.  At  half- 
past  two  P.  M.  the  three  Sunday-schools  connected 
with  our  mission  in  Yokohama  met  in  the  Bluff  Chapel 
for  a  general  recitation  from  the  Catechism,  Scripture 
Lessons,  etc.,  after  which  the  Bishop  made  a  few  re- 
marks, expressing  the  pleasure  it  gave  him  to  meet  such 
a  large  congregation  of  children,  and  to-listen  to  their 
prompt  answers  to  all  the  questions.  At  the  close  of 
the  Bisho]/s  remarks  the  children  all  rose  to  their  feet 
and  desired  him  to  bear  their  Christian  salutations  to 
the  Sunday-school  children  and  members  of  the  Church 


Bishop  Wiley  s  Visitatioti.  45  1 

of  Clirist  in  tlie  United  States.  The  occasion  was  one 
of  rare  interest  and  pleasure.  In  the  evening  the  Bishop 
attended  Japanese  service  in  the  Bluff  Chapel,  and  list- 
ened to  a  discourse  from  Brother  Kurimura,  one  of  our 
helpers,  recently  received  on  trial,  and  elected  to  dea- 
cons' orders  in  the  Baltimore  Annual  Conference.  Thus 
closed  tlie  Bishop's  last  Sunday  in  Japan. 

12.  Annual  Meetings,  1879-1881. 

The  year  1879  opened  favorably  with  the  mission. 
January  31  plans  were  adopted  for  a  building  for  a 
♦  training  school  at  Yokohama,  to  be  known  as  the  Japan 
Conference  Seminary,  and  Rev.  Milton  S.  Vail  was  ap- 
pointed from  America  to  initiate  this  phase  of  the 
educational  work  of  the  Methodist  Church  of  Japan. 
Mr,  Vail  arrived  September  13,  in  company  with  Rev. 
Charles  Bishop.  The  woman's  work  was  re-enforced  by 
the  arrival  November  13  of  Miss  Elizabeth  Russell  and 
Miss  Jennie  M.  Gheer,  for  the  purpose  of  opening  work 
at  Nagasaki.  Miss  Schoonmaker,  after  five  years  of 
tireless  and  successful  work,  returned  to  America  in 
November,  and  became  the  wife  of  Professor  Soper. 

During  March  and  April  of  this  year,  Dr.  Maclay  and 
Mr.  J.  C.  Davison  made  a  tour  through  the  island  of 
Kiushiu,  spending  ten  days  in  Kagoshima,  the  capital  of 
the  Satsuma  Province,  where,  on  March  23,  Mr.  Davi- 
son organized  a  church  of  forty- four  adult  members  and 
fifteen  children,  the  result  of  a  remarkable  spiritual 
movement.  They  visited  all  the  important  cities  of  the 
island.  Mr.  Soper,  in  April  and  May,  made  a  fourth 
evangelistic  tour  of  Shimosa,  dedicating  a  neat  chapel 
on  the  island  of  Fukama,  thirty-five  miles  northeast  of 
Tokyo,  the  chapel  capable  of  holding  one  hundred  and 


452  METH(inisT  Episcopal  Missions. 

twelve  persons  having  been  built  by  the  people  tlieni- 
selves.  In  November  Mr.  Harris  made  a  tour  to  Yama- 
gata,  and  opened  work  in  this  important  and  prosperous 
city,  situate  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  main  island 
of  Hondo. 

Dr.  Maclay  visited  the  city  of  Nagoya,  two  hundred 
miles  west  from  Yokohama,  one  of  the  strongholds  of 
Buddhism,  in  Japan,  ranking  as  the  fourth  city  in  im- 
portance in  the  empire.  There  was  here  a  society  of 
fifteen  members.  Dr.  Maclay  gave  some  seven  hours  a 
day  to  the  work  of  the  committee  translating  the  New 
Testament  in  Japanese,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  ' 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  commenced 
work  in  Hakodati  under  the  care  of  Miss  Mary  Priest. 

The  sixth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  pre- 
sided over  by  Dr.  Maclay,  at  Tokio,  July  i-8,  (1879,) 
six  American  and  nine  Japanese  members  being  present. 
On  the  third  day  (July  3)  of  the  session,  the  mission 
was  saddened  by  the  death  of  Miss  Susan  B.  Higgins, 
the  funeral  taking  place  the  following  day. 

Three  weeks  after  the  adjournment  of  the  conference, 
July  28,  another  great  grief  came  to  the  Church  in 
Japan  and  elsewhere,  in  tlie  sudden  death  by  apoplexy 
of  Mrs.  Maclay,  wife  of  Dr.  Maclay.  Mrs.  Henrietta  C. 
Maclay  had  exhibited  an  earnest  missionary  spirit,  had 
been  efficient  in  service  througli  twenty-nine  years  as 
the  wife  of  Dr.  Maclay,  and  during  his  missionary  toils 
and  anxieties  in  Cliina  and  Japan  had  cheered  and 
aided  him,  rendering  his  home  the  center  of  a  most 
charming  hospitality. 

In  October  the  mission  rejoiced  in  a  communication 
from  Rev.  John  F.  Goucher,  of  Ikiltimore,  in  which  he 
proposed  to  place  $10,000  at  the  disposal  of  the  mission 


Aiuiual  Meetings,  1 879-1881.  453 

for  i)ernKineiU  investment  to  advance  some  special  form 
of  mission  work.  Tlie  mission  at  first  thought  of  a  pub- 
lishing house  as  a  suitable  form  for  this  benevolence,  but 
later  determined  on  an  educational  institution,  which 
was  more  in  accord  with  the  mind  of  the  generous  donor. 

The  year  was  closing  with  prosperity  as  marked  as 
liad  been  its  losses,  when  another  calamity  was  added  to 
its  records.  On  December  26  the  entire  property  of 
the  mission  in  Tokio,  comprising  the  church,  the  par- 
sonage, and  the  property  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  was  destroyed  by  a  most  fierce  and 
disastrous  conflagration,  which  consumed  the  personal 
effects  of  the  missionaries  that  had  been  removed  to  the 
streets,  leaving  them  with  little  but  the  clothing  they  had 
on  at  the  time. 

The  seventh  Annual  Meeting  was  held  June  29-July  6, 
1880,  Dr.  Maclay  presiding.  There  were  ten  foreign  and" 
fourteen  Japanese  members.  From  the  first  the  Japa- 
nese were  in  the  majority  in  all  these  deliberative  and 
determinative  bodies,  and  might  have  controlled  the 
proceedings  if  they  had  concentrated  on  any  issue.  But 
the  foreign  members  never  distrusted  them. 

December  2,  1879,  the  Yokohama  Translation  Com- 
mittee, of  which,  as  has  been  stated.  Dr.  Maclay  was  a 
member,  had  completed  the  translation  of  the  entire 
New  Testament  into  Japanese. 

Rev.  C.  S.  Long  and  wife  and  Rev.  G.  F.  Draper  and 
wife  arrived  in  the  mission  March  20,  and  Miss  Jennie 
S.  Vail  May  25.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety sent  out  ]\Iiss  Kate  Woodworth,  who  arrived  in 
October.  Miss  Mary  Priest's  health  had  given  way,  and 
she  reluctantly  returned  to  America. 

The  Japan  Conference  Seminary,  begun  October  i, 


454  Mkiiiopist  Eimscopal  Missions. 

the  year  before,  witli  twenty  students,  now  possessed  a 
suitable  building,  completed  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,  includ- 
ing the  land.  It  would  accommodate  thirty-nine 
boarding  pupils,  and  already  instruction  was  being  given 
in  it  in  seventeen  branches.  The  generous  gift  of  Dr. 
Goucher,  already  mentioned,  was  now  turned  into  this 
channel,  the  interest  of  the  $10,000  to  be  applied,  one 
fourth  toward  a  library  and  three  fourtlis  for  scholar- 
ships. Miss  Olive  Whiting,  now  the  wife  of  Rev. 
Charles  Bishop,  reported  that  the  (iirls'  lioarding  School, 
after  the  jMoperty  was  destroyed  by  fire,  secured  other 
quarters,  and  now  had  thirty-two  boarders.  Miss  Rus- 
sell, who  had  begun  the  school  in  Nagasaki  December 
I,  1879,  with  one  pupil,  closed  the  school  year  with  nine, 
and  the  institution  was  widely  known  as  the  "laving 
Water  Girls'  School." 

The  eighth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  held 
at  Tokio  August  25-30,  1.881,  under  the  presidency  of 
Bishop  Bowman,  who  ordained  Charles  Bishop  deacon 
and  elder,  and  six  Japanese  preachers  deacons. 

Dr.  Maclay's  health  had  suffered  from  the  long  strain 
of  work,  and  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Japan  April  2. 
He  visited  England  as  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Ecumenical  Conference,  held  in  London  Septem- 
ber 7-20.  He  had  rendered  eight  years  of  the  ablest 
service  in  the  Japan  Mission.  Rev.  and  Mrs.  I.  H. 
Correll  also  returned  to  America,  on  account  of  inse- 
cure health.  Rev.  Lee  W.  Squier,  Miss  M.  S.  Hampton, 
and  Mrs.  C.  W.  Van  Petten  all  arrived  in  Japan  before 
the  close  of  the  year. 

The  Annual  Meeting,  after  full  deliberation,  recom- 
mended in  the  matter  of  self-support  that  each  church 
meet  its  own  local  expenses,  and  at  least  ten  "sen  "  per 


Annual  Meetings,  1879-18S1.  455 

member  monthly  toward  support  of  their  pastors ;  and 
that,  as  a  rule,  the  local  societies  should  contribute  two 
thirds  of  the  cost  of  erection  of  churches.  The  confer- 
ence elected  a  Finance  Committee,  consisting  of  three 
foreign  missionaries,  three  Japanese  members  of  con- 
ference, and  three  stewards,  with  the  president  of  the 
Annual  ISIeeting  as  cliairman,  whose  duty  it  should  be 
to  determine  the  rate  of  salary  of  the  preachers,  and 
apportion  to  the  several  charges  the  amount  they  would 
be  expected  to  contribute  toward  providing  for  the  same. 
They  also  provided  for  lay  representation  by  a  steward 
from  each  charge  in  the  Annual  Conference  on  financial 
matters. 

Educational  matters  also  were  carefully  reviewed  by 
this  Annual  Meeting.  The  school  at  Tokio  had  sixty- 
five  young  men  pupils,  all  self-supporting.  The  Wom- 
an's Foreign  Missionary  Society  school  at  this  place  had 
moved  into  new  rented  quarters,  and  enrolled  fifty 
boarders  and  twenty-seven  day  scholars,  nearly  all  from 
non-Christian  homes,  but  all  receiving  instruction  in 
Christianity.  When,  September  13,  under  Miss  Spen- 
cer and  Miss  Holbrook  the  school  entered  its  newly 
erected  school  building,  the  Governor  of  Tokio,  the 
United  States  Minister  Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  and 
other  eminent  persons  Avere  in  attendance;  Bishop  Bow- 
man presided.  The  new  buildings  were  erected  at  a 
cost  of  $10,000.  The  completion  of  the  building  had 
been  delayed  by  a  typhoon,  which  laid  the  structure 
level  with  the  dust. 

What,  through  subsequent  years,  was  known  as  the 
Cobleigh  Seminary  had  its  origin  under  Rev.  C.  S. 
Long,  who  gave  the  following  account  of  its  beginning: 

"Two   years    ago,  when    I    was   taking  leave   of  my 


456  Mi'.THoDisT  Episcopal  Missions. 

friends  in  the  chapel  of  the  East  Tennessee  Wesleyan 
University,  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  for  Japan,  'a 
certain  poor  widow  '  placed  in  my  hand  two  dollars, 
saying,  '  I  would  love  to  do  more  for  you,  but  this  is  all 
I  have.*  Not  feeling  disposed  to  use  this  widow's  mite 
for  my  personal  benefit,  I  resolved,  after  careful  reflec- 
tion, to  make  it  the  foundation  of  a  school  in  Japan. 
Accordingly  I  wrote  private  letters  to  brethren  in  the 
various  southern  conferences,  asking  them  to  assist  me 
in  accomplishing  my  purpose.  Liberal  responses  came 
from  both  north  and  south,  and  in  a  few  months  the 
two  dollars  grew  to  five  hundred  dollars.  This  sum, 
increased  by  grants  from  the  mission,  soon  became 
twelve  hundred  dollars,  with  which  we  have  erected 
during  the  past  year,  on  a  magnificent  location,  overlook- 
ing the  ancient  city  of  Nagasaki  and  its  far-famed  bay, 
a  beautiful  two-storied  house,  40x50  feet,  containing 
twelve  splendid  rooms,  which  I  now  ask  the  Society  to 
accept  and  recognize  as  Cobleigh  Seminary,  in  honor  of 
the  poor  widow  who  gave  me  the  two  dollars,  and  in 
memory  of  her  lamented  husband,  Rev.  Nelson  E.  Cob- 
leigh, D.D.,  LL.D.,  my  old  friend  and  teacher.  Twelve 
young  men  have  already  matriculated,  and  are  studying 
English,  Chinese,  and  their  own  language  with  good 
success.  All  are  required  to  recite  a  lesson  from  the 
Bible  each  day." 

Another  subject  receiving  thoughtful  consideration 
was  the  strategic  distribution  of  the  forces.  While  there 
was  no  difficulty  of  transfer  of  men  owing  to  different 
languages,  yet  the  territory  naturally  required  develop- 
ment from  three  centers  around  which  the  work  might 
be  organized.  Nagasaki  and  Hakodati  were  respectively 
seven  hundred  miles  and  five  hundred  miles  from  Tokio 


Annual  Meetings^  1879-18S1.  457 

and  Yokohama.  In  order  to  secure  efficiency  they  felt 
that  a  force  of  men  must  be  got  sufficient  to  occupy  Naga- 
saki, Hakodati,  and  Tokio  and  Yokohama,  the  last  two 
being  operated  as  one  center.  The  mission  appealed 
for  men  to  enable  them  to  develop  what  were  thus  seen 
to  be  three  distinct  spheres,  or  missions. 

18.  Annual  Meetings,   1882-1883. 

The  ninth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  held 
at  Yokohama  July  6-12,  18S2,  Dr.  Maclay  presiding. 
Mr.  Draper  had  returned  to  America  on  account  of  Mrs. 
Draper's  ill  health  ;  also  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harris  after 
nine  years  of  efficient  service.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Davison  retired  after  the  same  term  of  years  on  the 
field,  and  Mrs.  Soper  also  had  gone  to  America.-  Mr. 
Correll  was  still  absent,  and  Dr.  Maclay  did  not  return 
till  June  25.  Rev.  C.  W.  Green  and  wife  arrived,  how- 
ever, August  20,  and  Rev.  W.  C.  Kitchin  and  wife  and 
Rev.  James  Blackledge  in  October.  The  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  sent  to  the  field  Miss  A.  P. 
Atkinson  and  Miss  E.  J.  Benton.  Miss  Woodworth 
was  married  on  March  10  to  Mr.  J.  J.  Quinn,  of  the 
British  diplomatic  service,  and  her  relation  to  the  mis- 
sion ceased. 

The  most  important  measure  of  the  year  was  the  re- 
moval of  the  Theological  Training  School  or  Seminary 
from  Yokohama  to' Tokio,  with  the  express  purpose  of 
developing  an  Anglo-Japanese  University  of  the  mission. 
This  transfer  was  accomplished  in  the  summer  of  1882. 
The  scheme  for  the  Anglo-Japanese  University  included 
a  school  of  theology,  a  school  of  literature,  and  a  school 
of  agriculture.     The  school  of  agriculture  was  projected, 

anticipating  tliat  an  agricultural  school  in  Tokio  would 
30 


458  Methodist  Eimscoi'al  Missions. 

become  a  part  of  the  university.  This,  however,  did 
not  come  to  pass. 

The  educational  movement  now  inaugurated  had  its 
origin  in  a  proposal  of  Rev.  John  F.  Goucher  presented 
to  the  Board  at  New  York  in  January  of  this  year.  He 
tendered  the  gift  of  ^5)°°°  toward  the  purchase  of  a 
proper  site  for  the  buildings  for  such  a  university  as 
was  suggested,  and  $800  a  year  for  five  years  toward  the 
salary  of  an  American  to  serve  as  professor.  When  the 
selection  of  a  site  was  under  consideration,  lion.  John 
A.  Bingham,  United  States  Minister  to  Japan,  and  oth- 
ers urged  the  location  of  a  school  outside  the  "  foreign 
concession."  In  accordance  with  this  suggestion  a 
beautiful  plot  of  twenty-five  acres  of  land  situate  in  the 
western  suburbs  of  the  city  was  purchased.  The  school 
was  temporarily  housed  in  Tokio,  and  had  6t,  scholars, 
20  of  whom  were  professing  Christians  ;  11  were  theo- 
logical students. 

Miss  Holbrook  reported  a  deep  religious  interest  per- 
vading the  school  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  which  had  enrolled  60  during  the  year,  21  of 
whom  were  in  full  membership  in  the  church. 

Miss  Hampton  and  Miss  Woodworth  reported  the 
erection  of  school  buildings  for  the  "Caroline  Wright 
Memorial  "  School  at  Hakodati,  a  gift  to  the  mission 
from  Mrs.  J.  A.  Wright  in  memory  of  her  daughter. 
The  cost  was  $5,687,  and  the  enrollment  was  16  board- 
ing besides  some  day  pupils. 

On  the  29th  May,  (1882,)  llic  new  Ciirls'  School 
building  of  the  Society  was  opened  at  Nagasaki  ;  Rev. 
Joseph  Cook,  of  Boston,  made  a  formal  opening  of  the 
school  in  its  new  quarters  with  a  lecture  on  "Christian 
Schools  in  the  Ivist."     There  were  accommodations  for 


Annual  Meetings,  1 882-1 883.  459 

60  boarding  and  40  day  scholars.  The  eminence  on 
which  it  was  erected  was  a  very  beautiful  site,  and  tlie 
building  had  stood  the  test  of  a  typhoon  which  wrought 
much  damage  to  other  property.  Nagasaki,  it  must  be 
remembered,  is  the  key  to  the  island  of  Kiushiu  with  its 
six  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  the  only  open  port  in 
southern  Japan.  This  school  closed  its  session  prior  to 
entering  the  new  building  with  46  pupils,  and  now  en- 
tered this  valuable  building  where  but  two  years  and 
a  half  since,  as  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  Miss  Rus- 
sell began  with  a  single  pupil. 

The  tenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  met  in 
Tokio  July  20-26,  1883,  Bishop  Merrill  presiding.  On 
Sunday,  the  22d,  the  Bishop  ordained  three  Japanese  as 
deacons  and  four  as  elders ;  also  L.  W.  Squier.  A 
memorial  was  adopted  to  the  General  Conference,  ask- 
ing that  body  to  erect  the  Japan  Mission  into  an  Annual 
Conference.  I.  H.  Correll  and  family  returned  from 
America  February  20.  Rev.  D.  S.  Spencer  and  wife, 
J.  O.  Spencer  and  wife,  and  Miss  Florence  N.  Hamisfar, 
M.  D.,  Miss  Emma  Everding,  and  Miss  Watson  all 
arrived  on  the  field  this  year  ;  also  Miss  Kitty  Treaty 
who  was  married  on  her  arrival  to  Rev.  James  Black- 
ledge. 

This  year  witnessed  a  most  signal  manifestation  of  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  a  widespread  revival  in 
various  parts  of  Japan,  originating  simultaneously  in 
different  localities  widely  separated  from  each  other  and 
Avithout  any  recognized  relation  in  the  sources  of  its 
commencement.  No  human  connection  was  known  be- 
tween the  revivals  in  Central  Japan  and  those  on  the 
island  of  Kiushiu. 

The  work  in  Central  Japan  was  supposed  to  have  had 


460  Mk  iiK^nisT   Episc<irAi,  Missions. 

its  origin  in  a  meeting  licld  by  some  missionaries,  at  Ila- 
kone  while  resting  there  for  a  few  days.  This  spiritual 
awakening  was  not  confined  to  any  church  or  mission, 
but  was  a  spiritual  uplift  for  all  Japan.  It  was  not  so 
much  a  wonderful  ingathering  of  souls  as  an  instance  of 
ra[)id  spiritual  progress  among  those  nominally  called 
Christians.  It  was  a  great  surprise  to  the  main  body  of 
the  Church  to  find  that  there  was  something  in  the 
Christian  religion  that  could  be  felt  and  testified  to. 
Even  many,  who  had  preached  for  years,  sought  for  this 
experience  and  became  joyful  witnesses  of  God's  power 
to  save,  and  the  Christians  began  to  exhibit  a  readiness 
to  make  personal  sacrifice  for  Christ  such  as  had  not  be- 
fore appeared.  One  of  the  foremost  preachers,  having 
attended  one  of  the  meetings  and  heard  the  preaching 
with  power,  was,  while  on  his  way  home,  unconsciously 
talking  aloud  to  himself.  A  policeman  on  the  street 
heard  his  soliloquy  and  thought  the  man  was  deranged 
and  about  to  commit  suicide.  He  followed  him  closely 
and  came  to  a  very  different  conclusion.  The  man  was 
not  contemplating  death,  but  life  from  the  dead. 

Another  younger  man,  a  theological  student,  now  for 
the  first  time  heard  the  word  "  revival,"  and  the  Spirit 
made  him  anxious  to  know  its  meaning.  He  heard 
this  new  manifestation  of  power  called  fanaticism.  He 
studied  the  first  part  of  Acts,  and  prayed  again  and 
again  for  light;  but  none  came.  He  made  a  solemn 
agreement  with  another  inquiring  school  companion  to 
pray  every  night  after  the  lights  were  put  out.  They 
fasted,  prayed  every  night  for  two  and  a  half  weeks,  but 
no  light  came.  So  they  stopped  prayer,  fasting,  and 
seeking,  but  could  not  rest,  could  not  study,  coulil  not 
eat  nor  sleep.      This  young  man  begged   liis   teacher  to 


A?inual  Meetings,  1 882-1 883.  461 

let  him  go  to  Yokohama,  where  revival  meetings  were 
being  held.  He  went,  heard  the  word,  saw  the  Master, 
and  came  back  to  the  school  filled  with  power.  His  com- 
panions cried,  "  Fanatic  ;  "  "  Madman  ;  "  but  he  quietly 
showed  them  the  way,  prayed  with  them,  and  many  be- 
lieved. Tiiese  two  men  afterward  came  to  be  among  the 
most  prominent  men  in  the  Japan  Conference.  They 
went  out  preaching  through  all  the  churches  in  Tokio. 
Fifteen  conversions  took  place  in  the  school  at  Aoyama, 
and  many  believers  were  quickened.  Tokio  and  Yoko- 
hama saw  like  results,  the  latter  place  recording  ninety- 
six  baptisms  in  six  months.  But  the  figures  could  not 
show  the  impulse  given  to  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
churches,  and  the  new  energy  in  every  department  of 
work. 

The  Girls'  School  in  Tsukiji  was  swept  witli  this  re- 
vival power;  20  students  were  baptized  on  March  18, 
and  27  more  were  converted  later  on,  making  47  out  of 
the  66  pupils  spiritually  saved. 

The  revival  on  the  island  of  Kiushiu  occurred  about 
the  same  time,  and  every  department  there  was  moved 
with  supernatural  energy,  making  the  year  one  of  almost 
continuous  revival,  all  the  churclies  of  the  district  sharing 
largely  in  the  blessing.  Tlie  minds  of  the  masses  of 
the  peo[)le  seemed  pervaded  with  the  Spirit's  influences. 
In  some  towns  whole  populations  thronged  to  the  preach- 
ing, and  instances  occurred  where  hundreds  of  people, 
unable  to  gain  admission  to  the  building,  spread  their 
straw  mats  in  the  street  and  sat  to  hear  the  Gospel.  In 
the  Girls'  School  at  Nagasaki,  while  the  missionaries 
were  praying  in  the  parlor,  two  girls  upstairs  were  con- 
verted, and  the  following  Sunday  eighteen  were  baptized. 
The  recitations  of  the  succeeding  school  days  were  sus- 


462  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

pended  by  the  religious  manifcsialion,  and  girls  were 
weeping  and  praying  in  their  rooms.  The  Boys'  School 
saw  similar  emotional  manifestation.  Hakodati  District 
in  the  extreme  north  shared  in  this  spiritual  outpouring. 

The  principle  of  self-support  found  a  natural  and 
healthy  stimulus  in  this  revival.  The  Tsukiji  Clnirch, 
composed  of  poor  people,  had  not  felt  able,  previously, 
to  assume  more  than  one  sixtli  of  the  j^astor's  salary,  but 
now  they  voluntarily  agreed  to  double  the  amount  of 
their  giving.  The  servant-women  of  that  church  bore 
the  expenses  of  a  ])lace  in  which  one  of  their  members 
carried  on  a  Sunday-school.  The  Yokohama  Church 
voluntarily  assumed  the  pastor's  support,  and  remained 
prominent  on  the  self-support  line  ever  after.  In  Naga- 
saki one  helper  doing  regular  work  refused  to  accept 
pay  from  the  mission. 

The  influence  of  this  revival  continued  through  1884. 
Churches,  chaj)els,  stores,  shops,  houses,  and  theaters 
were  filled  with  interested  crowds,  and  strong  convic- 
tion and  powerful  conversions  marked  the  spiritual  de- 
velopment. The  numerical  returns  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance,  January  10,  1884,  show  the  marked  numerical 
growth.  In  1859  Protestant  missions  were  begun;  in 
1876  the  number  of  converts  was  placed  at  1,004;  i'l 
f879,  at  2,965,  an  increase  in  three  years  of  1,461  ;  in 
1882,  3,845,  an  increase  in  three  years  of  880  ;  in  1883, 
the  returns  were  6,590,  an  increase  in  one  year  of  2,745. 

1  4.  Annual  Conference  Organized, 

Pursuant  to  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  at 
its  session  in  Philadelphia,  May,  1884,  erecting  the  Japan 
Mission  into  an  Annual  Conference,  Bishop  Wiley,  who 
had  arrived  at  Yokohama  August  15,  convened  the  min- 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  463 

isters  to  effect  this  organization  in  the  Tsukiji,  Tokio, 
Church,  Thursday,  August  18,  at  nine  A.  M.  Devotional 
services  were  held  both  in  English  and  in  Japanese,  and 
an  address  was  delivered  by  the  Bishop,  who  then  an- 
nounced the  following  ministers  transferred  from  their 
Conferences,  where  they  held  their  membership  re- 
spectively, to  the  Japan  Conference  : 

Elders. — From  the  Baltimore  Conference,  R.  S.  Maclay, 
Eiken  Aibara,  Saehachi  Kurimura,  Bunshichi  Onu- 
ki.  Newark  Conference,  J.  C.  Davison,  Kenjiro  Asuga, 
Takuhei  Kikuchi.  Pittsburg  Conference,  M.  C.  Harris. 
Philadelphia  Conference,  I.  H.  Correll,  James  Black- 
ledge,  C.  W.  Green.  North  Indiana  Conference,  Charles 
Bishop.  Holston  Conference,  C.  S.  Long.  North  Ohio 
Conference,  L.  W.  Squier. 

Deaco?is,  Second  Class. — From  the  Maine  Conference, 
M.  S.  Vail.  P]iiladelphia  Conference,  Tenju  Kawamura, 
Sogo  Matsumoto.  Northwest  Indiana  Conference,  Kei- 
nosuke  Kosaka. 

Probationers. — From  the  Detroit  Conference,  W.  C. 
Kitchin.  Wyoming  Conference,  D.  S.  Spencer,  J.  O. 
Spencer.  Baltimore  Conference,  Chujo  Nakayama. 
North  Indiana  Conference,  Yasutaro  Takahara.  Maine 
Conference,  Toranosuke  Yamada,  Heizo  Hirata,  Hatano- 
shin  Yamaka,  Totaro  Doi  (died),  Yajizo  Kamijo,  Kiuki- 
chi  Nakada.  Holston  Conference,  Genjiro  Yamada. 
Northwest  Indiana  Conference,  Itsuki  Honda,  Sakae 
Hiranuma. 

The  Revs.  J.  C.  Davison  and  Eiken  Aibara  were 
chosen  secretaries.  Twenty-one  members  responded  to 
their  names  at  roll  call. 

Milton  S  Vail,  Keinosuke  Kosaka,  and  Sogo  Matsu- 
moto were  elected  elders. 


464  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

W.  C.  Kitchin,  D.  S.  Spencer,  and  CIuijo  Nakayama 
were  admitted  into  full  connection. 

Chujo  Nakayama  and  George  W.  Elmer  were  or- 
dained deacons,  and  K.  Kosaka,  S.  Matsumoto,  and 
Yoitsu  Honda  as  elders,  the  last  named  in  each  order 
being  from  the  local  ranks. 

Chrukichi  Iwai,  Shumpachi  Yamada,  Shichijuro  Ki- 
mura,  Soga  Tanegawa,  and  Suteki  Chindawere  received 
on  trial. 

Messrs.  Vail  and  J.  O.  Spencer  were  not  present  at 
the  Conference,  the  first  being  in  America,  and  the 
second  detained  by  sickness.  The  ladies  of  the  Woman 's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  were:  Miss  E.  Russell,  Miss 
E.  Everding,  Miss  Jennie  M.  Gheer,  Miss  Gertrude 
Howe,  Mrs.  Carrie  Van  Pettcn,  Miss  E.  J.  Benton,  Miss 
M.  A.  Spencer,  Miss  A.  P.  Atkinson,  Miss  R.  J.  Watson, 
Miss  Florence  N.  Hamisfar,  M.D.,  Miss  Ella  J.  Hewitt, 
Miss  Minnie  S.  Hampton.  These  ladies,  togetlier  with 
tlie  wives  of  tlie  members  of  the  Conference,  organized 
the  Woman's  Conference  on  the  same  day  at  two  o'clock, 
(August  28,)  Mrs.  Dr.  R.  S.  Maclay  being  president  and 
Mrs.  L.  W.  Squier  secretary. 

The  church  now  had:  Members,  907;  probationers, 
241;  local  preachers,  19;  Sunday-school  pupils,  1,203. 
A  Board  of  Trustees  was  appointed  for  the  Anglo-Japa- 
nese College,  consisting  of  men  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  and  Canadian  Methodist  Churclies,  and  a 
corps  of  instructors  was  appointed,  consisting  of  eight 
foreigners  and  six  Japanese.  The  proposal  to  unite  the 
Methodisms  in  support  of  this  as  a  common  educational 
institution  was  earnestly  debated  by  representatives 
of  the  bodies,  but  was  not  deemed  practical,  when  Dr. 
Maclay  arose  and  said  :  "  Brethren,  if  you  do  not  do  tliis 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  465 

thing,  by  the  help  of  God,  we  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  will  do  it."  Loud  cheering  greeted  this  an- 
nouncement. 

On  January  17  a  meeting  had  been  held  of  representa- 
tives of  the  several  branches  of  Methodism  to  draft  a 
basis  of  union  among  them,  which  commanded  the  assent 
of  all  present,  but  which  subsequently  failed  of  consum- 
mation, not  meeting  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
authorities  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Canada.  The 
question  of  the  erection  of  a  Central  Conference  for  the 
Methodism  of  Japan  had  been  presented  to  the  General 
Conference  ;  but  that,  too,  ultimately  failed  of  realization. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  features  of  this  conference 
was  the  report  of  a  committee  which  had  been  appointed 
during  the  year  to  visit  Korea  and  report  on  the  feasi- 
bility of  beginning  a  mission  in  that  country.  The 
conference  recommended  that  the  General  Committee 
in  America  commence  a  mission  in  Korea  immediately, 
to  be  administered  as  a  separate  mission,  and  that  two 
missionaries  be  sent  there  in  the  spring  of  1885,  and  the 
conference  added  to  its  estimates  of  money  needed 
$9,000  for  the  purpose  of  beginning  the  Korea  Mission. 

Persecutions  in  several  places  were  reported.  Physi- 
cal assault  was  in  some  cases  followed  by  disinheritance 
and  ostracism,  which  are  accounted  severe  punishments 
in  Japan.  Several  of  the  native  preachers  were  severely 
persecuted  by  their  countrymen,  but  in  every  case  re- 
mained firm  showing  amid  showers  of  stones  and  vile 
insults  and  denunciations  of  infuriated  mobs  their  living 
faith  in  the  Gospel  they  preached.  At  Kumomoto,  in 
Kiushiu,  the  chapel  was  repeatedly  stoned.  A  Buddhist 
priest  was  arrested  by  the  city  police  as  the  chief 
offender,  and   lodged   in   jail.     Mr.  Asuga,  the  pastor, 


466  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

requested  the  court  to  deal  lightly  with  hiiu,  and  loaned 
him  a  blanket  to  protect  him  from  the  cold  during  his 
imprisonment.  This  Christian  act  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion upon  the  people  of  the  city  and  the  fellow-priests 
of  the  unfortunate  man.  Three  of  them  came  to  thank 
Asuga  for  his  kindness,  and  he  replied  that  he  was  only 
putting  in  practice  the  doctrine  which  he  had  preached, 
and  for  which  they  had  persecuted  him.  They  expressed 
deep  regret  for  what  their  brother  priest  had  done,  and 
promised  that  it  should  not  occur  again.  The  whole 
affair  was  an  excellent  advertisement  of  the  Church  and 
its  work,  as  such  persecutions  usually  are. 

This  year  witnessed  the  completion  of  a  Methodist 
Hymnal  in  the  Japanese  language,  containing  two  hun-  . 
dred  and  forty-seven  hymns,  with  appropriate  music 
arranged  for  the  same.  This  much-needed  work  had 
been  produced  after  many  years  of  patient  toil  by  the 
Rev.  J.  C.  Davison.  It  was  at  once  adopted  by  all  the 
Methodisms  of  Japan,  and  by  several  of  the  other 
missions.  It  was  of  untold  value  in  Christian  service 
throughout  the  empire,  and  with  one  exception  no  hymn 
collection  approaching  it  in  practical  worth  has  yet  been 
produced. 

Several  typhoons  were  experienced  in  the  empire, 
doing  much  destructive  work  to  the  mission  proi)erty. 
The  church  in  Hirosaki  was  unroofed,  and  the  dwelling 
occupied  by  Mr.  Green,  in  Hakodati,  was  leveled  to  the 
ground.  On  September  15  occurred,  perhaps,  the  most 
furious  typhoon  that  had  visited  Tokio  in  twenty  years. 
The  Girls'  School  in  Tsukiji  was  partly  unroofed, 
every  building  owned  by  the  mission  in  Tokio  or  Yoko- 
hama was  injured  more  or  less,  and  the  Nagasaki  build-  ^ 
ings  suffered  several  hundred  dollars'  damage. 


Annual  Conference  Organized.  467 

August  1 1  the  Government  of  Japan  abolished  tlie 
official  relation  of  the  Buddhist  and  Shinto  priests 
throughout  the  land.  This  act  was  the  practical  dises- 
tablishment of  those  religions,  and  a  long  step  toward 
the  putting  of  all  religions  upon  an  equal  basis  before 
the  law,  which  was  done  by  the  constitution  granted 
later.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  Government,  this 
meant  open  toleration  and  freedom  to  preach  the  Gospel 
in  any  part  of  the  empire.  The  thoughtful  will  mark 
its  significance. 

15.  Annual  Conferences,  188S-1886. 

The  second  session  of  the  Japan  Annual  Conference 
convened  in  Tokio  September  2,  1S85,  Dr.  Maclay  being 
elected  to  preside.  H.  W.  Swartz  was  transferred  from 
the  Colorado  Conference.  Mr.  Long  had  been  obliged 
by  ill  health  to  return  to  America.  Miss  Ella  J  Hewitt, 
of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  arrived,  as 
did  Mr.  Vail,  returning  to  the  field. 

Some  healthy  gains  were  this  year  made  in  the  line  of 
self-support.  The  Tsukiji  Church  made  a  strong  effort 
to  become  financially  independent,  and  for  a  time  main- 
tained this  position.  The  Kanda  Church  increased  its 
giving  from  nothing  to  $125,  enlarged  its  building,  and 
built  a  parsonage  for  its  pastor.  Kaigan  Do  Church,  at 
Yokohama,  gave  $10  per  month  for  the  pastor's  salary, 
and  its  aggregate  collections  amounted  to  $260  for  the 
year.  Kanagawa  and  Fukuyama  Churches  erected  for 
their  use  a  small  chapel  ;  but  the  Hakodati  Church  was 
the  banner  church  of  the  conference;  although  com- 
posed entirely  of  poor  people,  they  paid  the  pastor's 
salary  of  18  yen  per  month,  his  traveling  expenses  to 
conference,  contributed  well  for  benevolent  objects,  and 


4'''8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

secured  tlie  first  native  Christian  cemetery  in  Japan. 
The  total  amount  of  their  giving  for  the  year  was  330 
yen,  being  an  average  of  nearly  7  yen  per  member. 

The  educational  development  was  encouraging.  The 
school  at  Aoyama,  Tokio,  passed  a  very  successful  year. 
It  reached  an  enrollment  of  168,  with  an  average  at- 
tendance of  140  in  the  Anglo-Japanese  department,  all 
being  self-supporting,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three, 
who  were  preparing  to  enter  the  theological  school. 
These  received  some  assistance.  The  theological  school 
had  nine  students  in  training,  who  gave  good  satisfac- 
tion. Twelve  students  became  Christians  and  joined 
the  church  during  the  year.  A  decided  increase  of 
Christian  influence  was  felt  in  the  school.  Separate 
faculties  were  established  for  tlie  theological  and  English 
departments  of  the  institution.  Through  the  gift  of 
nearly  $;io,ooo,  by  Mrs.  Philander  Smith  and  Mr.  William 
E.  Blackstone,  of  Oak  Park,  111.,  and  other  friends  who 
united  with  them,  the  erection  of  the  Pliiiander  Smith 
Bi])lical  Institute,  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Smith's  deceased 
]nisl)and,  was  begun  and  carried  well  on  to  completion 
during  the  year.  Tliis  was  a  fine  brick  building,  with 
half  underground  basement,  two  stories,  mansard  roof, 
and  tower.  The  first  arrd  the  second  sto'ries  were  ar- 
ranged for  offices,  library,  chapel,  and  class-rooms,  and 
the  half-story  at  the  lop  was  finished  for  a  dormitory 
for  theological  students. 

An  interesting  incident  of  the  Girls'  Scliool  in  Yoko- 
hama occurred.  By  some  new  arrangement  an  order 
came  from  the  Government  officials  for  tliese  schools  to 
come  into  the  same  examination  as  others.  There  was 
mucli  excitement  among  the  pupils,  and  they  worked 
faithfully.     At  Kanagawa  before  any  went  they  all  knelt 


Annual  Conferences,  1885-1886.  \(xj 

down  and  asked  God's  help  for  the  day.  Then  one  teach- 
er went  with  the  pupils  who  were  to  be  examined,  while 
the  other  stayed  in  the  school-room  with  those  remaining, 
praying  for  those  who  had  gone.  When  the  scholars 
arrived  at  the  appointed  place  some  of  the  scholars  from 
the  other  schools  shouted,  "  O,  here  comes  the  Jesus 
Christ  school;  they  cannot  pass!"  But  they  did  pass, 
every  one  of  them.  One  of  the  examiners  said  to  an- 
other, "What  school  is  this  in  which  every  child  has 
passed.''"  The  other  replied,  "Why,  it  is  the  one 
known  as  the  'Jesus  Christ'  school."  At  the  return  to 
their  own  building  one  little  girl  went  up  to  another 
and  said,  "I  know  why  you  passed;  it  was  because  we 
prayed  about  it." 

In  October,  1884,  a  Japanese  pastor  was  sent  to  open 
work  in  Fukfioka,  the  capital  of  the  Chikuzen  Province, 
an  old  Daimio  city,  on  one  bank  of  the  river  Nakagawa, 
Hakata  city  being  on  the  opposite  side,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  70,000  in  both  cities.  Forty-three  converts  were 
gathered  into  the  church.  They  appealed  to  the  ladies 
in  Nagasaki,  seventy  miles  distant,  to  open  a  girls' 
school.  The  ladies  replied  that  they  must  wait  for 
leave  from  home,  and  could  not  expect  a  reply  before 
the  first  of  April.  The  first  boat  that  landed  at  Fuku- 
oka  after  that  date  found  a  great  crowd  waiting  on  the 
shore  to  welcome  the  new  missionary.  The  missionary 
did  not  appear,  however,  but  the  people  would  accept 
no  refusal ;  so,  after  prayerful  consideration  and  an  in- 
ventory of  the  available  funds,  the  ladies  determined  to 
make  the  effort  to  meet  the  call.  Seventy  students  had 
been  pledged  by  the  pastor  in  advance.  Near  the  end 
of  May  Miss  Jennie  M.  Gheer  left  Nagasaki,  and  on 
June  I  opened  the  Fukuoka  Girls'  School. 


4/0  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  first  District  Conference  of  Japan  was  held  this 
year  in  Nagasaki  June  25-JuIy  2. 

The  Philander  Smith  Bible  Institute  was  completed 
January,  1886,  at  a  cost  of  $15,000,  and  its  chapel  now 
alTurded  a  place  for  the  holding  of  the  third  session  of 
the  Annual  Conference,  which  met,  Dr.  Maclay  pre- 
siding, September  2-9,  1886.  Twenty-six  preachers  an- 
swered to  the  roll  call.  Gideon  F.  Draper  was  received 
by  transfer  from  the  Upper  Iowa  Conference,  and  Julius 
Soper  from  the  Baltimore  Conference.  Rev.  M.  C 
Harris  had  been  transferred  to  San  Francisco  and  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Japanese  work  of  the  Church  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  as  already  recorded.  Miss  Hamisfar, 
M.D.,  who  had  been  conducting  medical  work  at  Hako- 
dati,  was  transferred  to  the  work  in  Korea.  Miss  L. 
B.  Smith,  Miss  A.  M.  Kaulbach,  Miss  Mary  J.  Holbrook, 
and  Miss  G.  M.  Rulofson  re-enforced  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  work.  Miss  Russell  re- 
ported for  Nagasaki  97  girls,  91  of  whom  were  church 
members,  and  that  in  a  city  where,  in  1879,  nine  years 
before,  not  a  girl  in  the  city  could  be  hired  to  attend 
the  school.  A  new  church  was  organized  at  Yonezawa, 
another  on  the  Bluff,  Yokohama,  to  substitute  one  in- 
jured. Three  new  points  in  Yokohama  were  occupied 
for  work.  From  Nagoya  the  work  was  extended  to  the 
city  of  Gifu.  Hakodati  had  now  a  new  church  edifice 
costing  1,200  yen,  half  the  cost  being  contributed  by 
Japanese.  The  audience,  on  the  day  of  dedication, 
numbered  some  four  hundred. 

This  history  does  not  admit  of  discussion  of  the  gen- 
eral political  and  social  changes  occurring  in  Japan, 
which  would  be  desirable  to  give  the  proper  back- 
ground to  the  events  of  the  missionary   development. 


Annual  Conferences,  1 885-1 886.  471 

One  feature,  however,  seems  essential  to  the  understand- 
ing of  part  of  the  work.  A  political  and  social  agitation 
in  Japan  began  about  1885,  when  the  Emperor  modified 
his  Government  by  organizing  a  cabinet  of  a  prime  min- 
ister and  nine  others,  representing  as  many  departments 
of  the  Government,  each  responsible  to  the  Emperor. 
This  was  only  a  preparatory  step  to  the  granting  of  a 
constitution  and  the  organization  of  a  parliament  five 
years  later.  A  "Treaty  on  an  Equal  Footing"  with  all 
foreign  powers  seemed  to  the  Japanese  officials  to  be  im- 
minent, which  it  was  anticipated  would  stimulate  all  val- 
ues by  the  extension  of  commercial  intercourse.  But 
commerce  required  a  language,  and  the  foreigners  could 
scarcely  be  expected  to  acquire  Japanese.  Under  these 
conditions  there  was  nothing  left  but  that  Japanese 
should  learn  some  commercial  foreign  language,  and  they 
elected  English.  Everybody,  then,  must  know  the  English 
alphabet,  at  least.  A  man  competent  to  teach  that  much 
could  receive  his  board  and  twenty  dollars  a  month  ; 
teaching  to  spell  was  remunerated  with  double  pay, 
and  a  conversation  standard  would  command  to  an 
American  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  dollars  a 
month,  and  if  he  chose  to  supplement  this  by  teaching 
the  Christian  religion  besides,  so  much  the  better.  An 
instance  is  vouched  for  as  characteristic,  of  a  lad  being 
presented  to  a  Japanese  who  could  teach  the  first  seven 
letters  of  the  alphabet,  who  was  welcomed  with,  "Bring 
him  in  ;  we'll  pay  him  his  board  and  ten  dollars  ! " 

It  was  this  that  induced  the  missionary  force  of  the 
several  missions  to  detail  missionaries  as  secular  teach- 
ers. It  was  a  quasi  self-support  plan.  Not  one  in  a 
thousand  Japanese  cared  a  groat  for  their  evangelical 
work,  but  would  submit  to  almost  any  condition  to  gain 


472  Methodist  Kpiscopal  Missions. 

a  knowledge  of  English.  The  Methodist  Eijiscopal  Mis- 
sion did  not  enter  into  these  openings  as  extensively  as 
did  some  others,  and  subsequent  experience  proved 
that  missions  did  not  gain  sufficient  religious  results 
to  compensate  for  the  men,  even  where  money  was  plen- 
tifid  enough  for  this  local  work.  The  mission,  however, 
did  reap  benefit  in  some  cases.  In  1885,  for  instance, 
Dr.  H.  W.  Swartz  was  ap])ointed  teacher  in  the  academ- 
ical school  at  Sendai,  receiving  his  salary  from  the  school 
with  no  restrictions  on  his  missionary  services,  though  in 
the  em[)loy  of  the  J^ipanese  Government.  Dr.  Swartz 
from  the  first  imparted  Christian  truth  to  all  under  his 
influence,  and  Mrs.  Swartz  did  the  same  with  the  women, 
with  the  result  that  now  (1886)  Dr.  Maclay  reported  a 
church  with  45  members  and  8  probationers.  Dr.  Kit- 
chin  had  labored  also  in  a  secular  school  (Mr.  Fukuza- 
wa's)  and  reported  18  of  the  students  as  having  accepted 
Christ. 

The  greatest  results  of  this  national  movement  were 
seen  in  the  mission's  schools,  now  every-where  crowded 
with  eager  pupils.  In  view  of  the  system  of  public  in- 
struction under  the  Government,  the  conference  now 
directed  that  no  primary  schools  be  conducted,  ex- 
cept in  cases  where  evangelization  could  not  be  carried 
on  without  them,  thus  conserving  the  strength  of  the 
mission  for  the  more  advanced  educational  work. 

16.  Annual  Conferences,   1887-1889. 

Bishop  Warren  held  the  fourth  session  of  the  Japan 
Conference  in  the  chapel  of  Goucher  Hall,  Tokio, 
August  12-18,  1887,  and  announced  the  transfer  from 
the  Mississippi  Conference  to  this  conference  of  Joseph 
G.  Cleveland  ;  of  Epperson  R.  Fulkerson  from  Nebraska 


Annual  Conferences,  1887-1889. 


473 


Conference;  and  of  Whiting  S.  Worden  and  W.  C.  David- 
son from  the  North-west  Indiana  Conference.  Mr.  Black- 
ledge  was  in  America,  and  L.  W.  Squier  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  North  Ohio  Conference.  R.  S.  Maclay  was 
elected  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  I.  H.  Cor- 
rell   being  reserve  delegate.    The  lay  delegates  chosen 


GOXJCIIER   HALL. 


were  J.  O.  Spencer;  reserve,  Honda  Yoitsu.     Fraternal 

greetings  were  sent  to  the  young  mission  in  Korea.  The 

conference  rejoiced  in  the  place  of  its  meeting,  Goucher 

Hall,  with    its   complement    of  class-room    and  chapel 

facilities,  erected  at  a  cost  of  some  $14,000,  for  which 

they  Avere  indebted  to  the  generosity  of  John  F.  Goucher, 

D.D.,  of  Baltimore.    The  college  enjoyed  a  great  advan- 
31 


474  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions, 

tage.  It  was  a  fine  brick  building,  two  stories  and  a 
mansard  high,  and  well  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  flour- 
ishing English  school.  The  conference  sessions  were 
held  in  the  basement,  designed  in  the  future  to  be  util- 
ized as  a  laboratory. 

The  Philander  Smith  Biblical  Institute  entered,  Oc- 
tober, iSS6,  upon  its  first  year  as  a  Methodist  Union 
Theological  School,  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada 
co-operating  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  in 
its  conduct.  The  Canada  Mission  had  now  4  students, 
and  the  Japanese  Conference  21,  in  the  classes.  The 
Canada  Mission  furnished  two  of  the  professors  in 
the  school,  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
was  expected  to  supply  a  ])rofessor  of  Old  Testament 
exegesis. 

It  may  be  well  to  anticipate  the  history  in  outline 
concerning  the  connection  of  other  Methodist  bodies  in 
Japan  with  this  Theological  School,  so  far  as  to  say  that 
from  1883  to  1886  it  formed  tlie  theological  department 
of  the  college  under  the  sole  care  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  From  1886  to  1889  it  was  a  union  school 
for  three  out  of  the  five  Methodist  missions  represented 
in  Japan,  and  in  1889  it  was  reorganized  as  a  school 
solely  under  the  control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

The  most  important  topic  under  consideration  by  the 
Annual  Conference  of  18S7  was  a  ]iroposed  union  of  all 
the  Methodist  missions  in  Japan  in  one  organization,  a 
subject  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  several 
Methodist  bodies,  both  on  the  field  and  in  America,  for 
several  years  following. 

The  grounds  on  which  such  a  union  with  autonomy 
were  urged  are  too  numerous  to  restate  here.  _   It  would, 


Annual  Conferences,  1887- 1889.  475 

it  was  said,  economize  men  and  money  ;  it  would  be  in 
harmony  with  the  Japanese  spirit  and  national  history, 
Japan  having  through  twenty-six  hundred  years  rec- 
ognized no  foreign  domination ;  the  Presbyterian  and 
Congregational  Missions  were  about  forming  such  an 
alliance,  and  a  single  form  of  Methodism  would  be  less 
confusing  and  forbidding  to  Japanese  ;  publishing  and 
school  interests  could  be  administered  and  developed  to 
far  better  advantage,  and  if  autonomy  were  accomplished 
there  would  be  increased  responsibility  to  self-support. 
On  the  other  hand  it  was  urged  that  this  would  disinte- 
grate the  Church  and  cut  the  current  of  sympathy  with 
the  several  Churches  in  America,  which  would  soon  cease 
to  afford  the  "  Methodist  Church  of  Japan,"  as  it  was 
proposed  it  should  be  called,  the  pecuniary  aid  neces- 
sary to  develop  the  work. 

"A  Basis  of  Union  "  for  the  several  Methodist  mis- 
sions was,  after  patient  and  fraternal  debate  and  con- 
sideration by  conferences  and  councils  of  the  separate 
bodies,  finally  agreed  upon,  and  the  matter  presented  to 
the  respective  Churches  in  America.  The  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  kindly 
disposed  to  the  proposal ;  others  gave  it  full,  and,  as  they 
thought,  most  exhaustive  and  frank  consideration.  Dif- 
ficulties were  anticipated  and  honestly  stated  by  indi- 
viduals, as  well  as  by  boards  and  conferences,  during  a 
careful  canvass  through  several  years,  but  as  the  whole 
debate  did  not  issue  in  formal  union,  it  will  scarcely  be 
necessary  to  follow  it  in  connection  with  the  further  his- 
tory of  the  Japan  Mission. 

The  fifth  session  of  the  conference  was  held  in  the 
chapel  of  Goucher  Hall,  Tokio,  under  the  presidency 
of  Bishop   Fowler,  August   22-29,    1889,   the   following 


476  Methodist  Kimscoi'al  Missions. 

changes  appearing  in  the  slalf.  Herbert  13.  Johnson  and 
D.  N.  Mclnturff  were  transferred  into  the  conference 
from  NNyoming  Conference  ;  C.  S.  Long,  Bhie  Ridge  ; 
John  W'ier,  Troy  ;  MiUon  N.  Frantz,  Philadelphia  Con- 
ference. R.  S.  Maclay  was  transferred  to  the  Southern 
California  Conference;  W.  C.  Kitchin,  to  the  Troy  ;  and 
W.  C.  Davidson,  to  the  Northern  New  York  Conference. 
Miss  M.  A.  Vance,  Miss  Belle  J.  Allen,  Miss  Mary  A. 
Dansforth,  Miss  Augusta  Dickerson,  and  Miss  M.  E.  V. 
Pardee  were  added  to  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society's  staff. 

The  retirement  of  Dr.  Maclay  was  greatly  regretted 
by  the  conference.  He  had  held  the  office  of  superin- 
tendent of  the  mission  from  its  initiation,  eleven  years 
ago,  and  for  seven  years  was  also  its  treasurer.  He  was 
a  veteran  on  the  foreign  mission  fields  of  the  Church  in 
Eastern  Asia  of  forty  years,  being  twenty-five  in  C'hina 
and  fifteen  years  in  Japan.  He  had  accomi)lished  a  great 
work  as  translator  and  lexicographer  in  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage, and  had  wrought  wisely  and  efficiently  with  oth- 
ers in  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Japa- 
nese. His  ripe  scholarship,  his  prudence,  his  patience, 
his  persistent  labors,  his  intense  and  tender  brotherli- 
ness,  had  contributed  vastly  to  the  progress  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  throughout  the  Japanese  emjjire,  far  beyond 
his  own  denomination.  When  he  reached  Japan  in 
early  June,  1873,  there  were  not  a  hundred  and  fifty 
Protestant  Christians  in  the  whole  empire;  now  there 
are  twenty  thousand.  Methodism  was  late  entering 
the  field,  but  at  the  end  of  Dr.  Maclay's  fifteen  years  of 
superintendence  it  reported  over  three  thousand  mem- 
bers and  probationers,  over  forty  organized  churches, 
and  twenty   ordained  preachers.      Dr.    Maclay   had  ac- 


Annual  Conferences,  1887-1889.  477 

cepted  the  position  of  Dean  of  the  Maclay  College  of 
Theology  situated  at  San  Fernando,  California,  the  first 
divinity  school  of  tiie  Methodist  Church  on  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

Bishop  Andrews  held  the  sixth  session  of  the  confer- 
ence at  Tokio  August  14-22,  1889.  J.  W.  Wadman,  of 
the  Montana  Conference,  and  George  B.  Norton,  of  the 
South  Kansas  Conference,  were  transferred  to  this  con- 
ference. J.  F.  Belknap,  just  arrived  from  America  under 
appointment  to  the  mission,  was  admitted  on  trial  in  the 
conference.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
now  sent  as  re-enforcement  the  following :  Anna  S. 
French,  Anna  M.  Rodgers,  Louisa  Imhoff,  Mary  E. 
Wilson,  Maude  E.  Simons,  Mary  B.  Griffiths,  Frances 
E.  Phelps,  E.  A.  Bender,  Martha  E.  Taylor,  Ellen 
Forbes,  Ellen  Blackstock,  Georgiana  Baucus,  and  Jo- 
sephine Kuromshi. 

The  numerical  gain  in  communicants  was  not  as  great 
this  year  as  in  some  other  years,  but  there  was  solidifi- 
cation and  substantial  growth.  The  whole  number  of 
members  was  2,961,  with  860  probationers.  Six  new 
churches  had  been  built,  and  for  these  and  repairs  of 
other  churches,  1,584  yen  had  been  raised  on  the  field; 
the  amount  contributed  for  current  expenses  was  1,597, 
an  increase  of  554  yen  ;  the  benevolent  collections 
aggregated  1,448  yen,  and  the  amount  of  ministerial 
support,  644  yen,  made  a  grand  total  of  5,273  yen,  which 
would  be  about  $1.60  per  capita  for  each  full  mem- 
ber. 

The  overtowering  question  of  the  conference  session 
was  again  that  of  the  union  of  the  Methodisms  of  Japan, 
committees  being  appointed  to  draft  plans  and  submit 
to  the  other   Methodist   bodies    severally,  and  receive 


478  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Iroin  them  plans  whicli  they  in  turn  liad  drawn  up. 
Some  of  the  proposed  modifications  for  tlie  amalgama- 
tion were  the  rejection  of  the  episcopacy,  or  at  least  of 
the  life  term  of  episcopal  holdings,  making  presiding 
elders  chairmen  of  districts,  and  so  forth. 

Commissioners,  two  ministers  and  two  laymen,  were 
appointed  by  the  Japanese  Conference,  who,  on  August 
23,  met  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Japan  Con- 
ference of  the  Canada  Methodist  Church  and  of  the 
Japan  Mission  of  the  Methodist  P2piscopal  Church, 
South.  The  work  was  found  more  difficult  than  was  at 
first  supposed,  though  on  general  principles  it  was  held 
that  a  union  of  the  Methodisms  of  Japan  was  greatly  to 
be  desired. 

Among  the  new  educational  features  of  the  year  was 
the  control  secured  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  great  school,  To-o-Gijiku,  at  Hirosaki,  the  larg- 
est educational  institution  in  North-west  Japan,  having 
about  three  hundred  students,  of  which  Rev.  John  Wier 
was  now  appointed  President. 

The  year  1S89  opened  at  Nagasaki  with  a  gracious 
revival,  especially  among  the  boarding  pupils  in  the  Cob- 
leigh  Seminary.  By  February  11  forty-three  of  the 
])upils  in  this  seminary  and  three  in  the  Woman's  School 
had  accepted  Christ.  It  was  observed  that  nearly  all 
the  revivals  of  Japan  began  in  the  schools,  and  Rev.  D. 
S.  Spencer,  now  in  charge  of  Cobleigh  Seminary,  re- 
marked that  the  largest  results  were  got  among  board- 
ing pupils,  where  the  communicants  come  in  the  course 
of  their  instruction  to  accept  Christ  in  the  ratio  of  from 
one  out  of  four,  to  two  of  every  three,  while  the  day 
scholars  converted  and  joining  the  church  would  scarcely 
be  more  than  two  in  one  hundred.     This  seminary  now 


Annual  Conferences^  1 887-1889.  479 

had  an  enrollment  of  225,  with  boarding  hall  accommo- 
dations for  only  about  100. 

The  work  all  over  the  conference  was  prosperous,  and 
in  every  department  of  it.  The  mission  shared  the  uni- 
versal joy  of  the  empire  this  year  when,  on  February  11, 
the  long-desired  and  long-talked-of  constitution  was 
given  to  the  country  by  the  Emperor.  For  three  days 
the  nation  was  given  over  to  rejoicing  ;  business,  schools, 
and  ordinary  vocations  being  all  in  a  state  of  suspense. 
Article  XXVIII  guaranteed  religious  freedom  within 
the  bounds  of  law  and  safety  to  every  subject  or  resi- 
dent of  the  empire. 

17.  Annual  Conferences,  1890-1891. 

The  seventh  session  of  the  conference,  under  the 
presidency  of  Bishop  Newman,  convened  in  Tokio  July 
10-18,  1890.  Benjamin  Chappell,  from  the  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Prince  Edward  Island  Conference,  was  re- 
ceived on  his  credentials.  M.  N.  Frantz  and  David  N. 
Mclnturff  were  transferred  to  home  conferences.  Miss 
Grac£  Tucker  and  Miss  Leonora  H.  Seeds  were  added  to 
the  staff  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
workers.  D.  S.  Spencer,  J.  C.  Davison,  and  H.  Yamaka 
were  .elected  ministerial  delegates,  and  M.  Ishizaka 
and  T.  Ando  lay  delegates,  to  the  Ecumenical  Metho- 
dist Conference,  to  be  held  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  1891. 
A  Board  of  Deaconesses  was  appointed  and  provision 
made  for  taking  the  vote  of  the  churches  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  eligibility  of  women  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  Newman  proposed  to  donate  $5,000 
toward  the  endowment  of  a  university  to  be  known  as 
the  Japan  University  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,   and  a  commission  was  appointed  to  formulate 


480  Mkthodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

such  an  institution,  and,  if  possible,  to  secure  a  charter 
for  the  same  from  the  Government. 

Terrible  floods,  which  had  devastated  large  parts  of 
the  country  ;  the  suspension  of  treaty  revision  negotia- 
tions with  foreign  countries  on  an  attempt  being  made 
on  the  life  of  Count  Okuma  ;  the  extraordinary  activity 
of  Buddhist  priests  in  opposing  Christianity  ;  the  politi- 
cal excitement  incident  to  the  pending  elections  to  the 
Imperial  Diet  to  convene  under  the  new  constitution  in 
November;  and  the  great  suffering  of  the  people  owing 
to  the  unusual  advance  in  the  price  of  rice,  had  all  been 
keenly  felt  as  distracting  influences  to  the  general  relig- 
ious work  of  tlie  mission.  Despite  these  unfavorable 
circumstances  calls  were  coming  from  new  localities  for 
workers,  new  cities  were  entered  by  the  mission,  and  new 
churches  were  erected.  October  13  a  new  church  was 
dedicated  at  Nagoya  with  a  congregation  of  500  pres- 
ent, 200  partaking  in  the  sacramental  service,  despite 
the  fierce  opposition  which  the  priests  were  able  to  stir 
up  in  this  old  stronghold  of  Buddhism,  frequently  result- 
ing in  stoning  the  chapel  and  breaking  up  all  but  the 
regular  church   services. 

In  the  island  of  Kiushiu  the  mission  was  strongly  es- 
tablished in  seven  ken  cities.  The  Tokio  Church  was 
planning  to  build  an  edifice  in  Kanda  capable  of  seating 
a  thousand  persons.  In  all  that  great  city  of  a  million 
inhabitants  the  mission  had  but  two  church  edifices  and 
no  place  where  they  could  congregate  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  people.  Mr.  Taro  Anda,  formerly 
Consul-General  of  Japan  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  had, 
with  his  wife,  been  converted  under  Rev.  K.  Myama, 
appointed  to  those  islands  from  San  Francisco  by  Bishop 
Fowler.     Mr.  Anda  had  returned  to  Japan  and  at  once 


Annual  Conferences,  1 890-1 891.  481 

entered  heartily  into  the  work  of  church  extension,  con- 
tributing 500  yen  toward  improvement  of  the  Gospel 
Hall  (Tokio),  where  the  Ginza  Church  held  Gospel 
meetings. 

Every-where  the  ladies  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  were  advancing  their  work.  Tliey  had 
been  wont  for  several  years  to  make  quite  considerable 
evangelistic  tours  into  the  interior.  The  Woman's  Con- 
ference, meeting  at  the  same  time  and  place  as  the  An- 
nual Conference  each  year,  now  convened  in  its  seventh 
session.  Bishop  Newman  presided  one  forenoon  and 
made  an  address  at  their  anniversary  in  Goucher  Hall. 
The  reaction  in  public  Japanese  sentiment,  which  now 
held  it  unpatriotic  to  adopt  foreign  customs,  had  caused 
a  marked  decrease  in  the  demand  for  English  education, 
seriously  affecting  their  school  work  ;  but  the  great  dis- 
tress among  the  poor  opened  new  doors  to  their  energies 
as  evangelists.  The  Caroline  Wright  Memorial  School 
closed  its  eighth  year  at  Hakodati.  The  Tsukiji 
Girls'  School,  Tokio,  graduated  a  class  of  eleven;  all 
the  dormitory  rooms  were  filled  with  students  ;  84 
pupils  had  been  enrolled,  and  the  prospect  was  for  a 
greater  attendance  the  next  year.  Miss  Spencer  reported 
257  new  pupils  in  the  day  schools,  with  an  attendance 
one  day  of  508.  The  evangelistic  work  among  women 
was  affected  by  the  anti-foreign  spirit  now  prevalent  in 
the  nation.  Miss  Blackstock  had  begun  a  long-contem- 
plated industrial  school  for  girls  in  Tokio.  The  Yoneza- 
wa  school  was  nominally  a  Government  institution,  but 
Miss  Atkinson  reported  that  she  was  left  untrammeled 
in  the  care  and  control  of  the  school,  teaching  the  Bible, 
and  otherwise  imparting  religious  instruction. 

The  Training  School  for  Bible  Women  at  Yokohama^ 


482  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

under  Mrs.  \'an  Pcttcn,  had  closed  the  most  prosperous 
year  of  its  history.  Miss  French  reported  467  pupils  in 
the  day  schools,  and  a  demand  for  new  schools  among 
the  poor  people.  Miss  Uanforth  had  pleasure  in  eight 
of  her  girls  at  Nagoya  uniting  with  the  church.  Miss 
Russell,  at  Nagasaki,  rejoiced  in  one  of  her  best  pupils 
consecrating  herself  as  a  missionary  among  her  own  peo- 
ple, in  the  Christian  girls  holding  prayer  meetings,  and  « 
in  the  conversion  of  one  of  the  Chinese  teachers.  Miss 
Bing  had  forty  pupils  in  music.  At  Fukuoka  Miss  Tay- 
lor and  her  associates  saw  6  of  their  pupils  converted, 
making  18  earnest  Christians  in  the  school  out  of  20 
boarding  and  60  day  scholars.  There  were  now  24  for- 
eign missionaries  of  the  Society  in  Japan,  6  boarding 
schools  with  over  500  boarding  pupils  and  290  day 
scholars,  and  nearly  1,200  pupils  in  the  day  schools. 
They  carried  on  Bible  women's  work,  training  schools, 
industrial  school,  temperance  work.  King's  Daughters' 
societies,  and  Sunday-schools,  and  had  nearly  $60,000 
worth  of  property. 

The  eighth  Annual  Session  of  the  conference  was 
held  in  Tokio  July  8-16,  i89r,  Bishop  Goodsell  pre- 
siding. Of  the  44  members  and  13  probationers  of  the 
conference  37  members  and  10  probationers  were  pres- 
ent at  the  first  roll  call.  Frank  T.  Beckwith  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  Des  Moines  Conference,  and  C.  W. 
Creen  was  transferred  to  the  Philadelphia  Conference. 
Julius  Soper  was  elected  clerical  delegate  and  Y.  Nino- 
miya  lay  delegate  to  the  General  Conference.  The 
vote  on  the  admission  of  women  to  the  General  Con- 
ference was  18  in  favor  and  19  against  the  proposal. 
The  statistical  report  shows  3,061  members  and  644 
probationers,  a  total   increase  of   172  ;  church   edifices, 


Annual  Conferences^  1890-1 891.  483 

27  ;  Sunday-schools,  77  ;  scholars,  4,255.  The  General 
Conference  was  memorialized  to  fix  an  episcopal  resi- 
dence in  China  or  Japan  ;  to  divide  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety into  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Societies ;  and 
to  establish  a  branch  publishing  house  at  Tokio.  J.  C. 
Davison  returned  April  27  to  America.  Miss  Jennie 
Locke  arrived  for  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety service.  Nine  young  men  from  the  Theological 
School  were  admitted  to  conference.  The  national  re- 
action against  everything  foreign  brought  a  crisis  in  the 
school  work,  and  that  in  turn  in  the  accessions,  and 
missionaries  of  all  denominations  considered  merely 
holding  their  own  to  be  success.  They  anticipated  that 
this  popular  prejudice  could  have  but  temporary  life. 
Nagoya  had  again  been  favored  with  revival  power,  and, 
though  the  bitterest  persecutions  continued  during 
five  weeks  of  extra  meetings  sixty  persons  were  bap- 
tized. The  persecutions  were  so  severe  as  to  jeopardize 
Dr.  Worden's  life,  and  to  require  police  protection.  The 
city  of  Gifu,  having  30,000  population,  had  also  enjoyed 
a  special  season  of  grace,  and  work  was  begun  at  Kita- 
gata,  a  town  of  6,000  inhabitants.  Sendai  District, 
formed  at  the  last  Annual  Conference  of  six  circuits,  had 
been  blessed  with  spiritual  manifestations  for  two  years 
past,  and  severe  persecution  was  experienced  all  the  while. 

18.  Annual  Conferences,  1892-1893. 

Bishop  Mallalieu  convened  the  ninth  session  of  the 
conference  July  14-21,  1892,  at  Tokio.  Rev.  W.  H. 
Daniels,  of  Boston,  was  present.  Four  Japanese  minis- 
ters were  ordained;  also  Frank  T.  Beckwith.  Twelve 
young  Japanese  were  admitted  on  trial.  Mrs.  Belknap 
{jiee  Miss  Vance)  had  died  September  29,  1892,  and  the 


484  Mkthodist  Kimscopal  Missions. 

conference  adopted  a  suitable  record  of  lier  worth  and 
work. 

The  conference  rctiuesled  the  Bishops  to  reassign 
Bishop  Mallalieu  to  preside  at  the  conference  next 
year,  and  that  the  same  Bishop  tliereafter  visit  the  mis- 
sion at  least  two  successive  years.  The  work  this  year 
was  opened  at  Sapporo,  the  educational  and  industrial 
center  of  Yesso,  the  political  capital  and  seat  of  the  Gov- 
ernment agricultural  colleges  and  experimental  stations. 
A  class  of  thirty  members,  including  professional  men 
and  property  holders,  was  organized. 

The  signal  event  of  the  year  from  the  evangelical 
view  was  the  spiritual  baptism  that  came  on  the  churches 
and  schools  on  the  island  of  Kiushiu.  At  Nagasaki, 
about  the  middle  of  March,  a  revival  began  in  the  regu- 
lar nightly  prayer  meeting  of  the  two  schools.  Union 
meetings  under  tlic  direction  of  the  i)astor.  Rev.  H.  B. 
Johnson,  were  held,  nearly  every  student  in  the  schools 
and  several  others  being  greatly  blessed.  Methodist 
methods,  "anxious  seat"  and  all,  were  used,  and  what 
was  very  unusual  the  emotional  features  were  promi- 
nent, Methodist  "Hallelujahs!"  not  being  infrequent. 
Such  powerful  conviction  for  sin  and  such  clear  con- 
versions have  been  rarely  witnessed  in  Japan  by  the 
oldest  missionaries.  Pastors  of  the  district,  happening 
at  the  meetings  en  route  to  the  district  meeting,  were 
filled  \\\\\\  the  Spirit  and  carried  its  inspiration  to  that 
meeting,  and  soon  revivals  occurred  all  over  the  dis- 
trict. At  this  district  meeting,  on  Sunday  night,  every 
one  in  tlie  house  came  to  the  altar  except  two  young 
men,  who  fled  to  get  away  from  the  power  of  the  meet- 
ing. 

liishop   Foster  held   the   tenth   session   of    the   Jai)an 


Annual  Conferences^  1892-1893.  485 

Conference  July  6-13,  1S93.  Dr.  A.  B.  Leonard,  one  of 
the  corresponding  secretaries  of  the  Missionary  Society, 
accompanied  the  Bishop,  delegated  by  the  Missionary 
Board  for  special  duties  of  a  business  character  in  con- 
nection with  the  mission. 

Rev.  Henry  B.  Schwartz,  ]\I.l).,  was  transferred  from 
the  New  England  Conference,  and  R.  V.  Alexander 
from  the  New  England  Southern  Conference.  George 
B.  Norton  was  transferred  to  the  South  Kansas  Confer- 
ence. Miss  Carrie  A.  Heaton,  of  the  Woman's  Society, 
arrived  on  the  field  this  year. 

At  the  tenth  annual  session  the  Woman's  Confer- 
ence considered  an  ajipeal  to  open  work  in  the  Loo- 
Choo  Islands,  and  determined  to  accept  it  as  a  prov- 
idential call  to  the  Methodist  women  of  Japan  to  start  a 
foreign  mission  of  their  own  as  God  might  open  the  way, 
promising  to  send  a  Bible  woman  and  school-teacher  as 
soon  as  they  could  be  found.  Miss  Bender  and  Miss 
Dickerson  were  prompt  to  say  that  their  schools  respect- 
ively had  each  a  candidate  ready  to  go  to  Loo-Choo.  The 
Industrial  School  in  Tokio  was  dedicated  by  Bishop 
Foster  December  16  of  this  year,  (1893.)  The  Bible 
Training  School  at  Yokohama  celebrated  its  tenth  anni- 
versary, holding  its  first  Bible  Woman's  Convention. 
The  conference  deplored  the  fact  that  though  they  had 
over  3,000  members  there  was  no  well-developed  system 
of  self-support  among  the  churches.  The  mission  was 
suffering  for  want  of  church  edifices  sufficient  for  the 
work. 

Dr.  Leonard  submitted  a  "Plan  of  Self-Support"  to 
the  American  brethren,  and  then  to  the  Japanese  min- 
isters separately,  and  both  bodies  unanimously  accepted 
it.     The  purpose  was   to  secure  a  more  equitable  and 


486  MKTHonisr  Episcopal  Missions. 

intelligent  distribution  of  the  money  approjiriated  for 
support  of  native  pastors  and  evangelists  in  Japan.  All 
such  funds  were  to  be  distributed  at  conference,  and  for 
the  ecclesiastical  year  ;  the  churches  to  receive  in  a  fixed 
ratio  to  what  they  themselves  had  raised  for  the  support 
of  pastors  ;  an  additional  sum  was  to  be  appropriated  for 
each  year  for  new  work  equal  to  three  times  the  amount 
raised  by  the  churches  for  the  treasury  of  the  Methodist 
Ei)iscopal  Church. 

The  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  conference  re- 
ported the  total  income  for  the  year  ending  July,  1893, 
to  be  294  yen.  The  first  chapter  of  the  Epworth  League 
in  Japan  was  organized  May,  1891,  and  now  had  a  mem- 
bership of  80.  The  young  women  had  conducted  1 1 
mission  schools,  with  an  attendance  of  about  600;  the 
young  men  had  kept  up  preaching  at  three  places. 

The  second  chapter  was  organized  at  Nagoya  De- 
cember, 1892,  mainly  devoted  to  the  literary  department 
of  the  League.  In  the  Sunday  school  department  of  the 
conference  progress  was  manifested.  Scholars  under 
12  years  of  age  had  increased  245  ;  the  average  attend- 
ance had  advanced  394,  and  232  were  enrolled  in  the 
church,  more  than  a  year  before. 

The  statistical  tables  now  showed  :  Probationers,  841  ; 
members,  3,193;  total,  4,034.  Local  preachers,  38; 
churches,  37;  value,  $36,280;  parsonages,  10;  value, 
$3,655  ;  paid  on  use  and  improvements  of  property, 
$4,195;  Sunday  schools,  104;  scholars,  5,485;  paid  for 
ministerial  sustentation,  $2,154.  Six  of  the  benevolent 
collections  aggregated  $200. 

The  Woman's  Conference  had  the  pleasure  of  the 
presidency  of  Mrs.  Keen,  corresponding  secretary  of  the 
Philadelphia  Branch.     The  educational  work    now  in- 


Annual  Conferences,  1S92-1893.  487 

eluded  the  Caroline  Wright  Memorial  School  at  Ila- 
kodati,  Girls'  School  at  Hirosaki,  and  one  at  Sendai  ; 
Tsukiji  Girls'  School  and  Day  Scliools,  Anglo-Japanese 
Seminary,  with  its  Industrial  School,  Tokio ;  Bible 
Training  School  and  Day  Schools,  Yokohama;  Girls' 
School,  Nagoya  ;  Nagasaki,  and  Fukuoka.  The  mem- 
bers now  were  :  22  foreign  missionaries  ;  7  Boarding 
Schools,  with  233  pupils  and  340  boarders  ;  3  Training 
Schools,  with  35  pupils  ;  29  Bible  women;  io6ba[)tisms 
this  year.     Property  value,  $62,219. 

19.  Publishing  House. 

Again  and  again  the  need  of  a  publisliing  liouse  and 
a  greater  variety  of  Christian  literature  had  forced  itself 
upon  the  mission.  In  a  mission  meeting  held  January 
31,  1886,  the  question  of  starling  a  Publishing  House 
for  Japan,  to  be  located  on  the  Ginza,  one  of  the  main 
business  streets  of  Tokio,  was  discussed.  Plans  were 
perfected  for  an  increased  distribution  of  tracts.  But 
with  its  facilities  it  could  not  furnish  the  general 
reading  required  by  the  young  Church,  and  at  the  An- 
nual Conference  a  petition  was  presented  by  the  Japa- 
nese members  requesting  the  starting  of  a  church  paper 
in  the  Japanese  language.  A  committee  of  three  for- 
eigners and  four  Japanese  was  appointed  with  authority 
to  investigate  the  subject,  and  to  begin  the  publication 
of  such  a  paper,  provided  sufficient  financial  support 
could  be  secured.  The  conference  of  1886  also  adopted 
a  resolution  asking  its  chairman  to  appoint  a  publishing 
agent  to  superintend,  under  the  direction  of  the  Japan 
Mission,  the  general  publishing  work.  On  October  17 
it  was  finally  determined  to  make  the  attempt  to  publish 
a  paper  of  eight  pages,  called  the  "  Be  Kwai  Hochi." 


488  Mktmodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

Some  sample  copies  of  the  paper  were  issued.  On  No- 
vember 28  Mr.  Scjuier  was  made  editor  and  publisher  of 
all  books  and  tracts.  These  were  the  days  of  small 
things,  but  all  were  in  the  line  of  progress. 

From  the  report  of  I.  II.  Correll,  as  i)ul)lishing  agent, 
to  the  conference  in  18S7,  it  will  be  learned  that  the 
Publishing  Department  of  the  mission  had  already 
achieved  considerable  work  in  the  publication  of  "  Whe- 
don's  Commentary  "  on  Matthew,  Part  I  of  "  Systematic 
Theology  ;  "  "  Evidences  of  Revelation,"  the  Catechism. 
Sunday-school  and  tract  periodical  literature,  aggregat- 
ing 4,480,632  pages.  Most  of  this  had  been  rendered 
possible  by  the  appropriations  of  the  Methodist  Tract 
and  Sunday-School  Union  organizations.  The  next 
year  a  Hymnal  appeared,  of  which  5,000  copies  were 
issued,  with  many  new  publications.  In  1887  the  con- 
ference directed  the  establishment  of  book  stores  in 
Tokio,  Yokohama,  Nagasaki,  and  Hakodati.  These  had 
proven  expensive,  and  two  of  them  were  this  year  dis- 
continued. 

By  1892  the  publishing  agent  reported  that  the  Sun- 
day-school periodicals  had  nearly  reached  a  self-sustain- 
ing basis.  "  Raymond's  Systematic  Theology,"  Vol.  I, 
Church  Ritual,  and  other  publications  were  issued. 
Volumes  II  and  III  of  Raymond  followed  in  1893,  and 
other  publications  aggregating  for  the  year  nearly  four 
million  pages.  In  1891  the  Canada  Methodist  Mission 
had  united  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  in  in- 
augurating a  weekly  Christian  paper,  called  the  "  Gokyo." 
In  1892  the  average  weekly  issue  was  540,  of  which  486 
went  to  regular  paying  subscribers. 


PART    XIY. 

KOREA. 


TT'OREA,  the  "Hermit  Nation,"  was  for  four  hundred 
years  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  except  as 
hostilities  now  and  again  broke  the  monotony  of  seclu- 
sion. In  the  fifth  century  she  gave  religion,  art,  and  let- 
ters to  Japan.  Fleets  carried  from  Chosen,  "  the  Land 
of  the  Morning  Calm,"  woven  goods,  silk  fabrics,  rarest 
jewels  cut  and  polished  with  rarest  skill,  armor  inlaid 
with  silver  and  gold,  vases,  censers,  bronze  bells,  drums, 
flags,  and  pottery  of  exquisite  pattern,  wrought  with  high 
artistic  skill. 

Korean  history  runs  backward  through  three  thousand 
years,  the  dynasty  originally  being  affiliated  with  that 
of  the  Chow  dynasty  of  China  in  1122  B.  C.  With  vary- 
ing fortune  Korea  has  continued,  now  independent  for 
centuries,  now  as  a  province  of  China,  and  anon  with  a 
king  of  its  own  through  other  great  periods,  dynasty 
succeeding  dynasty,  down  to  1864,  when  a  boy  of  twelve 
summers  became  regent. 

In  May,  1882,  a  treaty  was  made  between  the  United 
States  and  Korea,  opening  Korea  to  the  Americans ; 
later  Great  Britain  and  Germany  formed  like  treaty  re- 
lations. 

Korea  is  a  small  country,  about  double  the  size  of 
Ohio,  with  a  population  variously  estimated,  but  which 
we    may  put   down  at  twelve  millions.     It  has  a  coast 


490  Methodist  Episctn'Ai.  Missions. 

line  of  i,Soo  miles,  though  the  tongue  of  land  is  only 
about  400  miles  long.  It  numbers  among  its  mineral 
products  coal,  iron,  lead,  tin,  silver,  and  gold.  It  pays 
tribute  to  China  and  Japan,  but  beyond  that  is  not  con- 
trolled by  them.  Its  existing  records  reach  back  for 
3,000  years.  Its  trustworthy  history  begins  about  A.  1). 
200.  In  1S76  tlie  king  entered  into  treaty  relations 
with  Japan,  opening  to  the  Japanese  three  Korean  ports. 
The  land  is  owned  by  the  people,  and  held  for  them  by 
the  king,  who  rents  it  to  the  people.  This  rental  takes 
the  place  of  all  other  taxes. 

In  religion  Korea  has  followed  China  and  Japan,  from 
an  original  nature  worship  to  the  adoption  of  Buddhism, 
Confucianism,  and  Romanism.  Of  late  years  there  has 
been  exhibited  a  strong  tendency  to  emphasize  the  prim- 
itive nature  worship.  Rev.  J.  Ross  somewhile  ago  gave 
a  list  in  the  "  Chinese  Recorder  "  of  over  twenty  gods 
which  are  popularly  worshiped  in  Korea  :  gods  of  the 
road,  gods  of  the  mountains  who  protect  from  tigers, 
gods  of  the  rain  and  of  war,  gods  of  the  kitchen  ;  while 
the  Virgin  Mary  and  ancestral  tablets  are  also  enu- 
merated. 

Christianity  was  introduced  into  Korea,  through  some 
Jesuit  books  from  Peking,  in  1777.  The  first  Korean  con- 
vert was  baptized  in  1783.  The  new  faith  spread  rapidly, 
but  here,  as  elsewhere,  political  intrigue  by  Jesuits 
led  to  revolt  against  them,  and  sixty  years  of  persecution 
followed,  in  which  thousands  of  Korean  converts  died 
with  the  names  of  Jesus  and  Mary  on  their  lips.  Other 
thousands  apostatized  ;  but  some  estimate  that  there  are 
still  thousands  of  secret  disciples  of  Christ  in  the  land. 

A  missionary  of  the  Netherlands  Society  reached 
Korea    in    1832    and   remained  one  month,  distributing 


Korea.  49 1 

tracts  and  religious  books.  The  missionaries  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland,  living  in  China  on  the 
borders  of  Korea,  exerted  the  first  of  the  more  modern 
Protestant  influences  in  Korea,  through  Koreans  that 
came  over  to  their  mission  fields  for  trading  purposes. 
On  the  seaboard  modern  missionary  influences  flowed 
to  Korea  from  Japan.  Unique  interest  was  felt  in  this 
movement  since  "  The  Hermit  Nation  "  was  the  only 
country  besides  Thibet  which  had  remained  absolutely 
closed  to  the  Gospel. 

The  population  of  Korea  is  separated  into  three  classes. 
First  and  highest  is  \\\<t  yang  ban — gentleman,  aristocrat, 
official.  He  makes  pretensions  to  knowledge  of  the 
Chinese  character  and  despises  manual  labor.  The 
second  is  the  chouiigin,  or  middle  class,  composed 
mostly  of  third  rate  officials,  clerks,  merchants,  and 
artisans.  The  third  grade  is  formed  of  the  farmer 
and  coolie  class  down  to  the  butcher,  who  stands  lowest 
in  the  social  scale.  Woman  is  held  to  be  inferior  to  man. 
She  is-  the  mother  of  lier  husband's  children.  As  a 
child,  she  must  be  obedient  to  her  father;  as  a  wife,  to 
her  husband  ;  and  as  a  widow,  to  her  oldest  son. 

The  country  which,  because  of  its  mountainous  char- 
acter, has  been  likened  unto  a  sea  in  a  storm,  is  rich  in 
mineral  resources,  well  watered,  and  the  valleys  fertile. 
The  climate  is  hot  in  the  south,  while  in  the  north  snow 
lies  on  the  ground  from  three  to  four  months  in  the  year. 
Seoul,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  is  a  walled  city,  with  a 
population  of  150,000  inside  the  wall,  and  an  equal  popu- 
lation in  the  suburbs.  The  royal  palace  is  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  city.  The  king  is  absolute  monarch.  He 
is  assisted  by  three  ministers  and  the  presidents  of  eight 
departments  of  state — finance,  rites  and  ceremonies,  war. 


492  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

|)ublic  works,  punishment,  registration,  home  and  foreign 
offices,  the  last  two  having  been  added  since  Korea  has 
had  relation  with  foreign  nations.  The  country  is  di- 
vided into  eight  provinces,  presided  over  by  governors, 
and  into  three  hundred  and  sixty-four  districts,  presided 
over  by  magistrates. 

With  Protestant  missions  in  Japan  on  the  east  and  in 
China  on  the  west,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  tlie 
Church  could  long  allow  tlie  millions  in  Korea  to  remain 
unevangelized.  The  year  after  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Hermit  Nation  was  made,  Rev.  J. 
F.  Goucher,  D.D.,  of  Baltimore,  proposed  to  the  Metho- 
dist Missionary  Society  to  ojjen  work  in  the  latter  coun- 
try. He  renewed  his  offer  to  the  General  Missionary 
Committee  at  its  meeting  in  1S84. 

Under  date  of  November  6,  1883,  Dr.  Goucher  wrote, 
tendering  $2,000  to  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcoi)al  Church  to  aid  in  commencing  missionary 
work  in  Korea,  provided  the  Bishop  would  appoint  a 
married  missionary  to  that  work.  "  In  my  judgment," 
he  said,  "  our  Church  should  enter  that  field  with  evan- 
gelistic, educational,  and  medical  agencies  at  the  earliest 
moment  competent  agents  can  be  secured.  Therefore, 
I  desire  to  renew  my  offer  of  $2,000,  made  last  Novem- 
ber, and  to  add  $3,000  thereto,  the  latter  sum  to  be  used 
in  purchasing  a  suitable  site  for  our  mission  operations 
in  Seoul,  provided  a  competent  ordained  missionary  of 
experience,  and  a  medical  missionary,  both  married, 
shall  be  placed  in  the  field  during  the  present  year." 
The  committee  appropriated  $8,100  to  begin  mission 
work  in  this  new  field. 


Beginning  the  Mission.  493 

1.  Beginning  the  Mission. 

The  Rev.  R.  S.  Maclay,  U.D.,  the  veteran  missionary 
of  China  and  Japan,  was  the  pioneer  in  this  work.  In 
fact  he  was  the  first  Christian  missionary  to  enter  the 
open  door  of  the  Hermit  Nation.  On  June  19,  1884,  he 
sailed  from  Nagasaki,  Japan,  and  on  the  23d  arrived  at 
Chemulpo.  He  at  once  proceeded  overland,  a  distance 
of  twenty-five  miles,  to  Seoul,  where  he  was  welcomed 
by  General  Foote  at  the  United  States  Legation.  He 
began  his  work  of  exploring  the  country.  After  forward- 
ing to  a  prominent  member  of  the  Korean  Government 
a  letter  indicating  his  object  and  proposed  plans  of 
work  he  wrote  :  "  I  was  notified  by  him  to  a  personal  in- 
terview, during  whicli  I  was  informed  that  our  letter  had 
been  submitted  to  the  king,  and  that  he  cordially  ap- 
proved. In  communi'cating  this  decision  of  the  king, 
the  officer  said  that  while  there  existed  strong  opposi- 
tion to  that  form  of  Christianity  which  in  former  years 
had  occasioned  serious  trouble  in  Korea,  the  Govern- 
ment had  no  objection  to  Protestantism,  and  would  not 
place  any  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Protestant  mission- 
aries. You  can,  perhaps,  imagine  the  joy  it  afforded  me 
to  receive  permission  and  authority  to  commence  Chris- 
tian work  among  the  Koreans  in  the  interest  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  As  far  as  I  know,  our 
Church  is  the  first  to  be  recognized  by  the  Korean  Gov- 
ernment as  a  helper  in  the  career  of  reformed  progress 
on  which  she  has  entered." 

Thus  the  mission  had,  up  to  this  time,  received  the 
support  of  the  Korean  Government  to  the  extent  of  not 
placing  obstacles  in  the  way. 

As  the  result  of  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Maclay, 


494  Mkihodist   Episcopal  Missions. 

Bishop  Fowler  appointed,  in  October  of  the  same  year 
(1884),  Rev.  William  Kenton  Scranton,  M.D.,  the  first 
missionary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  Korea, 
and  in  December  he  ajjpointed  the  Rev.  Henry  G.  Ap- 
penzeller  to  this  field. 

Dr.  Scranton  was  born  May  29,  1856,  in  New  Haven, 
Conn.  He  was  a  Methodist,  at  least  on  his  mother's  side, 
for  two  generations  back,  being  the  grandson  of  the 
celebrated  Rev.  Erastus  Benton,  of  the  New  England 
Conference,  when  that  conference  embraced  the  whole 
of  New  England.  His  father,  William  T.  Scranton,  a 
well-known  iron  manufacturer  in  New  Haven,  spared  no 
pains  to  give  his  son  a  good  education.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  Yale  College  in  187S,  and  at  once  took  up  the 
study  of  medicine,  graduating  from  the  College  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons,  New  York,  in  1881.  In  July, 
1882,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Loulie  W.  Arms  and  be- 
gan the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Cleveland,  O., 
where  he  continued  until  his  entrance  into  the  foreign 
field. 

Immediately  after  returning  from  Korea  Dr.  Maclay 
engaged  a  Korean  gentleman  who  had  embraced  Chris- 
tianity and  was  at  the  time  residing  in  Tokio,  Japan, 
to  prepare  a  translation  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Catechism,  of  which  one  thousand  copies  were  pub- 
lished for  the  use  of  the  Korean  Mission.  This  gen- 
tleman also,  under  Dr.  Maclay 's  direction,  translated 
two  tracts  originally  printed  in  Chinese,  which  gave 
a  plain  statement  of  the  truths  contained  in  the 
Gospel.  These  translations  were  designed  to  aid 
our  first  missionaries  to  Korea  in  introducing  Chris- 
tianity to  those  around  them,  and  also  in  accjuir- 
ing   an   idiomatic  use  of   the    Korean  language,  which 


Beginning  the  Mission.  495 

purposes  experience  proved  them  to  serve  to  a  con- 
siderable degree. 

On  February  23,  1885,  Bishop  Fowler  wrote  from  San 
Francisco  to  Dr.  Maclay,  saying:  "We  desire  you  to 
act  as  superintendent  of  Korea,  and  Brother  Appen- 
zeller  as  assistant  superintendent  under  your  direction. 
Dr.  Scranton  will  act  as  treasurer  of  Korea  Mission." 
Under  this  Dr.  Maclay  assumed  charge  of  the  mission, 
and  gave  to  the  duties  of  the  office  all  the  time  he  could 
spare  from  his  work  in  Japan  until  his  return  to  the 
United  States  in  1887,  when  Mr.  Appenzeller  became 
superintendent.  Dr.  Maclay  did  not  visit  Korea  after 
his  trip,  in  which  he  prepared  the  way,  because  of  the 
pressure  of  his  duties  in  Japan  and  the  amount  of  money 
required  for  traveling  expenses,  for  which  no  appropri- 
ation was  made  by  the  Missionary  Society.  The  oppor- 
tune visits  of  the  bishops,  to  a  great  degree,  substituted 
those  of  the  superintendent. 

He  was  ordained  deacon  and  elder  under  the  mission- 
ary rule  by  Bishop  Fowler  while  in  New  York. 

H.  G.  Appenzeller  was  born  near  Philadelphia  Feb- 
ruary 6,  1858  ;  worked  on  a  farm  in  summer  and  at- 
tended school  in  winter.  He  taught  public  school  and 
prepared  for  college.  His  parents  being  members  of 
the  Reformed  (German)  Church,  he  entered  in  1878 
Franklin  and  Marshall  College  at  Lancaster,  graduating 
in  1882.  While  at  college  he  was  licensed  to  preach, 
and  placed  in  charge  of  a  mission  connected  with  the 
First  Church  in  Lancaster,  where  he  "  rendered  valuable 
service  "  until  he  went  to  Drew,  where  again  he  preached 
in  "waste  places  "  for  two  years.  In  his  senior  year  at 
the  seminary  he  was  asked  to  go  and  open  work  in 
Korea.    This  was  most  unexpected  to  him,  but  he  obeyed 


496  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

ihc  call  of  the  Chiircli.  He  was  married  in  December 
to  Miss  Ella  J.  Dodge.  Passing  his  final  seminary 
examinations  in  January,  1885,  he,  with  his  newly  mar- 
ried wife,  started  for  their  distant  field  of  labor.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  seminary  the  following  May,  while 
he  was  in  Japan.  In  San  Francisco  Bishop  Fowler  or- 
dained him  deacon  and  elder. 

The  sketch  of  these  pioneer  missionaries  to  this 
Hermit  Nation  would  be  far  from  comjilete  without  a 
word  about  Mrs.  M.  F.  Scranton,  mother  of  Dr.  Scran- 
ton  and  founder  of  the  ^\'oman's  Work  in  Japan.  This 
elect  lady  was  born  December  9,  1832,  into  the  home 
of  Rev.  Erastus  Benton,  an  itinerant  minister  in  the  New 
England  Conference.  Twelve  years  later  she  was  born 
into  the  kingdom  for  the  spread  of  which  she  had  done 
much  in  her  own  land,  and  since  in  Korea.  When  her 
son  entered  the  mission  field  she  determined  to  accom- 
pany him  and  spend  her  days  with  him.  The  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  had  no  sooner  heard  of  the 
appointment  of  Dr.  Scranton  to  Korea,  when  Mrs.  M.  P. 
Alderman,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  New  England 
Branch,  wrote  Mrs.  Scranton,  urging  her  to  accept  ap- 
I)ointment  under  the  board.  The  very  next  day  she 
received  a  similar  invitation  from  Mrs.  William  B.  Skid- 
more,  corresponding  secretary  of  the  New  York  Branch. 
''  Called  to  the  mission  field  through  her  son,"  as 
she  herself  puts  it,  she  felt  she  could  no  longer  re- 
fuse tliis  "  outer  call  "  of  the  Church,  and  accepted  the 
great  task  of  bringing  the  Gospel  to  the  women  in 
Korea. 

The  missionaries  arrived  in  Japan  in  February,  1885. 
The  sudden  revolution  in  Korea  the  previous  Decem- 
ber had  occasioned  unexpected  difficulties.     'J'hey  tar- 


Beginning  the  Missioti.  497 

ried  awhile  in  Japan  counseling  with  Dr.  Maclay,  and 
finally,  when  it  was  thought  advisable,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ap- 
penzeller  made  an  attempt  to  enter  their  field.  They  ar- 
rived at  Chemulpo  on  Easter  Sunday,  April  5.  Here 
Mr.  Appenzeller  addressed  a  letter  to  the  United  States 
Legation  in  Seoul,  inquiring  about  the  safety  of  life  and 
property  in  the  capital.  He  was  advised  not  to  come 
to  the  capital  because  of  the  extreme  political  condition. 
He  therefore  decided  to  locate  temporarily  at  Chemulpo, 
and  was  making  arrangements  to  rent  a  house.  He  had 
been  especially  remonstrated  with  against  exposing  Mrs. 
Appenzeller  to  tlie  unknown  perils  of  this  unsettled  land. 
Rumors  of  war  and  uprisings  increased  daily.  The 
Chinese  and  Japanese  troops  which  had  fought  the  pre- 
vious December  were  still  in  the  capital,  and  might 
come  into  collision  at  any  moment.  Everything  was 
uncertain.  As  a  matter  of  prudence,  but  with  the 
greatest  regret,  he  withdrew  to  Japan,  leaving  some  of 
his  outfit  in  the  country.  Before  Mr.  Appenzeller  ar- 
rived in  Nagasaki,  Dr.  Scran  ton  left  Yokohama  for 
Korea,  unattended  by  his  family.  He  reached  Korea 
on  May  3,  pushed  on  to  Seoul,  where  he  was  heartily 
welcomed  by  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  asked  to  assist  in  the  Government  Hos- 
pital, established  the  previous  month.  In  this  way 
it  may  be  said  that  medicine  opened  the  country  for 
the  Methodist  missionaries  as  well  as  for  those  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 

In  a  short  time  after  his  arrival  Dr.  Scranton  suc- 
ceeded in  purchasing  a  native  house  situated  upon  high 
ground  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  and  thus  located 
the  mission  compound  in  Seoul.  Great  credit  is  due 
him  for  this  wise  selection.     Its  elevated  position  secured 


49^^  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

good  drainage,  and  as  it  adjoins  the  city  wall  this  added 
to  its  security.  To  the  west  of  this  original  purchase, 
and  joining  it,  Mr.  Appenzeller  purchased  a  native 
house  and  lot. 

Mr.  Appenzellcr  wrote  August  17,  1885  :  "The  mis- 
sion has  purchased  two  lots,  of  admirable  location,  on 
the  south  side  of  a  hill,  and  joining  the  city  wall.  It  is 
situated  about  midway  between  the  West  and  Little 
West  Gates.  Our  front  street  is  fully  eight  feet  wide, 
three  of  which  are  given  to  the  gutter  in  front  of  Dr. 
Scranton's  lot,  while  in  front  of  mine  the  gutter  is  the 
whole  street." 

Both  these  places  were  improved  to  adapt  them  as 
homes  for  the  missionaries.  Dr.  Scranton  treated  the 
first  patients  in  his  own  compound,  where  also  the  edu- 
cational work  was  begun.  Mr.  Appenzcller  was  staying 
a  few  weeks  with  Dr.  Scranton.  The  latter  while  in  the 
Government  Hospital  became  acquainted  with  two  young 
men  connected  with  that  institution  who  expressed  a 
desire  to  become  physicians.  He  informed  them  that  a 
knowledge  of  English  would  be  necessary,  for  thus  only 
could  they  have  access  to  suitable  medical  literature. 
They  at  once  applied  to  Mr.  Appenzeller  to  be  taught 
English,  which  task  he  undertook. 

2.  First  Annual  Meeting,   1885. 

The  first  Annual  Meeting  was  held  August  17,  1885, 
presided  over  by  Mr.  Appenzeller.  The  professional 
work  of  Dr.  Scranton  was  increasing,  and  Mr.  Appenzel- 
ler's  school  numbered  four.  This  was  the  day  of  small 
things,  but  it  was  a  beginning.  The  Mission  asked  for 
two  men  to  begin  work  in  Fusan,  the  southeastern  port, 
and   in    Chemulpo.     Steps   were   also   taken   to   enlarge 


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First  Annual  Afeeting,  18S5.  50 1 

the  work  in  Seoul.  Great  uneasiness  prevailed  through- 
out the  country  during  the  fall  and  winter,  and  the 
greatest  caution  had  to  be  exercised  by  the  missionaries, 
wlio  applied  themselves  with  all  diligence  to  acquire  the 
Korean  language.  Dr.  Scranton  continued  to  see  pa- 
tients in  his  own  home. 

In  the  fall,  Mr.  George  C.  Foulk,  then  in  charge  of 
the  United  States  Legation,  in  an  interview  with  the 
king  announced  the  presence  of  Mr.  Appenzeller  in 
Seoul  to  open  a  school  to  give  instruction  in  English. 
This  was  done  without  solicitation  on  the  part  of  the 
mission.  In  answer  to  a  letter  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Foulk 
for  this  service  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Appenzeller  the  follow- 
ing letter,  which,  because  of  its  importance,  is  produced 
entire : 

"  I  only  brought  the  subject  of  your  teaching  to  the 
notice  of  the  king  out  of  a  sense  of  the  good  to  come  to 
Korea  from  it  ;  yet  I  am  glad  you  think  my  action 
worthy  the  thanks  you  so  kindly  express,  i.  I  have  in- 
formed the  king  that  you  came  here  to  teach.  2.  That 
I  could  not  ask  the  Government  to  give  you  a  school  or 
provide  pupils,  because  my  so  asking  would  operate 
against  the  teachers  long  since  asked  for  from  America. 
3.  That  you  were  willing  to  teach  on  your  own  ac- 
count, but  had  not  felt  at  liberty  to  get  pupils  as  best 
you  might  and  teach  them,  as  you  did  not  know  what 
the  Government  or  people  might  think  of  it.  4.  That 
you  had  taught  school  in  America  and  knew  well  how 
to  teach. 

"  The  king  said  it  was  very  kind  in  you  to  take  such 
interest  in  Koreans,  and  that  it  would  be  a  very  good 
thing  were  you  to  teach  Korean — that  there  could  be 
no  objection. 


502  Methodist   Eimscopal  Missions. 

"  I  have  told  you  neither  more  nor  less  than  what  I 
have  said  to  the  king  and  wliat  he  replied.  It  means 
that  if  you  can  get  pupils  and  start  a  school  you  are  at 
liberty  to  do  so." 

By  the  beginning  of  1886  steps  were  taken  by  the 
mission  to  secure  a  suitable  site  for  hospital  and  edu- 
cational puri)Oses.  Under  date  of  January  19  Mr.  Ap- 
penzeller  writes  to  the  board,  recommending  the  im- 
mediate purchase  of  the  property  east  of  the  present 
])iirchase.  March  12  he  again  writes:  "We  are  buying 
property  for  school  work  immediately  south  of  my  house. 
There  are  several  '  farms '  we  wish  to  secure  for  our 
church!  A  '  farm  '  in  Korea,  or  at  least  in  Seoul,  is  a 
piece  of  ground  anywhere  from  ten  feet  square  to  an 
acre,  so  that  while  we  have  five  *  farms  '  in  mind  they 
do  not  amount  to  two  acres  altogether,  and  can  possibly 
be  bought  for  $200." 

The  property  bought  was  repaired  and  school  work 
begun  in  one  of  them  June  8,  and  continued  until  July  2, 
during  which  time  six  pupils  w-ere  enrolled.  At  this  time 
the  three  teachers  asked  for  from  America  had  arrived, 
and  the  Royal  College  was  to  be  opened  that  fall.  This 
gave  an  impetus  to  educational  work.  The  school  re- 
opened in  September,  and  by  the  end  of  the  first  month 
twenty  students  were  enrolled  with  an  actual  attendance 
of  eighteen.  From  the  very  first  attention  was  given  to 
introducing  the  principle  of  self-support,  to  make  the 
pupil  feel  that  no  aid  would  be  given  him  unless  he  made 
a  return  for  it. 

During  the  first  year  Dr.  Scranton  received  and 
treated  eight  hundred  and  forty-two  patients.  The  new 
hospital  was  opened  September  10.  A  Korean  em- 
ployed in    the   hospital,  and    interested   and  delighted 


First  Annual  Meeting,  1885.  503 

with  the  work  done  there,  put  up  a  sign  on  the  gate  in 
true  oriental  style  and  flourishes,  which  read  "American 
Doctor's  Dispensary,"  in  bold  Chinese  characters  on  one 
post,  and  on  the  other  this  most  startling  statement  :  "Old 
or  young,  male  or  female,  everybody  with  whatever  dis- 
ease, come  at  ten  o'clock  any  day,  bring  an  empty  bottle 
and  see  the  American  doctor."  ""I'hey  did  come,  and 
continued  to  come,  and  great  good  was  done  in  opening 
the  way  first  and  then  preacliing  the  Gosi)cl  afterward. 

3.  Annual  Meeting,  1886-1887. 

The  second  Annual  Meeting  (1886)  consisted  of  the 
same  persons  as  before,  no  re-enforcements  having  been 
sent  out.  Superintendent  Appenzeller  presided.  The 
yearly  reports  show  i  probationer,  100  adherents,  12 
Sunday-school  scholars,  30  pupils  in  the  day  schools,  and 
a  hospital  well  patronized. 

While  the  missionaries  were  struggling  with  the  diffi- 
culties of  a  new  and  entirely  unknown  language,  it  is 
pleasant  to  record  that  their  lives  impressed  the 
thoughtful  Korean,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  following 
testimony  of  one  of  the  first  pupils  in  the  school.  We 
are  indebted  to  Dr.  Scranton  for  preserving  this  record  : 
A  young  Korean  of  the  first  rank,  having  studied  English 
awhile  in  the  school  at  the  Foreign  Office,  heard  of  the 
Mission  School,  applied  to  it  and  was  admitted.  He  said 
he  watched  the  teacher's  work  and  habits,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  "  had  studied  and  used  some 
great  doctrine."  He  had  heard  of  Roman  Catholicism, 
but  not  having  seen  its  workings  he  had  his  doubts. 
While  in  the  school  he  came  across  a  New  Testament 
which  had  been  i)laced  in  the  rooms  of  the  students 
lodging  in  a  building  on  the  hospital  grounds.  The 
33 


504  MtruoDisT  EnscopAi,  Missions. 

students  with  one  consent  not  only  agreed  not  to  study 
it,  but  thought  seriously  of  leaving  the  school  because 
of  the  presence  of  these  Scriptures.  He,  however,  de- 
termined to  find  out  for  himself  what  was  in  the  book. 
He  read  it,  talked  with  his  teacher,  whose  life  lie 
watched  closely,  saw  the  disinterested  work  done  at  the 
hospital,  was  persuaded  of  the  truth,  accepted,  believed, 
and  was  the  second  person  baptized,  and  was  now  happy 
in  the  hope  of  the  glory  to  come. 

In  December  of  this  year  there  was  a  feeling  of  dissat- 
isfaction in  the  school  because  it  did  not  have  the  Gov- 
ernment recognition  the  students  thought  it  ought  to 
have.  The  President  of  the  Korean  Foreign  Office,  a 
gentleman  who  liad  shown  a  lively  interest  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  country,  and  who  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  missionaries,  was  rccpiested  to  visit  the  school 
and  give  it  a  suitable  name.  He  promised,  and  even 
went  so  far  as  to  present  the  subject  of  tiie  name  to  his 
majesty,  the  king.  Remembering  the  representation  made 
in  1885  the  king  graciously  gave  the  name,  Pai  Chai 
Hak  Dang  (Hall  for  Training  Useful  Men).  This 
name  was  written  on  strong  paper  in  four  large  Chinese 
characters.  It  was  framed  in  royal  colors,  placed  over 
the  large  front  gate,  and  became  the  silent  guardian  of 
the  mission's  educational  interests. 

At  the  sapie  time  the  Girls'  School  and  the  hospital 
were  given  names,  the  former  The  Pear  Flower 
School,  and  the  latter  ..SV  Fye/ig  IVun,  or  Widesjjread 
Relief  Hospital. 

Feeling  his  security  in  his  charter  for  the  school,  Mr. 
Appenzeller  began  the  erection  of  a  suitable  school 
building,  not  only  for  the  present,  but  especially  for 
future  use.     On  one  of  the   most  commanding  sites  in 


Annual  Meeting,  i<S86-i8S7.  505 

the  city  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  substantial  brick 
building,  76  feet  by  52  feet.  It  was  the  first  building  of 
its  kind  ever  erected  in  the  country,  and  attracted  a  great 
deal  of  attention.  On  the  5th  of  August  a  small  com- 
pany gathered  on  College  Hill  to  place  a  box  in  the  cor- 
ner-stone. It  contained  among  other  things  the  follow- 
ing sketch,  written  by  Mr.  Appenzeller  : 

"On  June  8,  1886,  this  school  had  its  first  session, 
with  two  pupils;  the  next  day  it  had  one.  Up  to  July 
2  four  more  were  admitted.  School  reopened  September 
ivvith  one  pupil.  Enrolled  during  the  year,  sixty-three. 
H.  G.  Appenzeller,  Dr.  Scranton,  and  Mrs.  H.  G.  Ap- 
penzeller taught  in  the  school  during  the  year.  This 
College  Hall  of  the  Pat  Chai  Hak  Dang  is  built  for  the 
dissemination  of  liberal  Christian  education  throughout 
this  land." 

The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  had  thus  the  honor  of  erecting  the  first  building 
of  this  kind  in  Korea.  Mrs.  M.  F.  Scranton  was  pres- 
ent, and  was  the  first  to  place  an  English  Bible  and  a 
copy  of  St.  Mark's  Gospel  in  Eiimun  in  the  box. 
Eu7nun  is  the  Chinese  dialect  used  in  speaking,  not 
writing. 

During  this  year,  ending  July  iS,  1887,  Dr.  Scranton 
wrote  in  his  report  : 

"  We  have  treated  over  2,000  patients,  and  during  the 
last  month  and  a  half  over  500  of  these  have  been  sent 
away.  Work  is  still  growing,  and  rapidly,  too.  We  are 
having  more  hospital  inmates  than  at  first.  During 
the  last  four  months  we  have  had  an  average  of  four  in- 
mates continually.  Our  hospital  is  now,  I  think,  known 
more  or  less  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this 
land.     We  have  patients  from  all  its  corners.     We  be- 


5o6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

lieve  it  will  pay  abundantly,  however,  to  go  among  the 
people  in  the  country,  and  thus  introduce  ourselves  more 
intimately  to  them.  I  therefore  desire  to  make  trips 
into  the  country  at  least  twice  a  year,  carrying  medi- 
cines as  passports.  It  will  probably  result  from  this  that 
new  places  to  be  visited  more  often  will  be  opened.  The 
other  departure  of  new  work  is  the  opening  of  a  hospital 
home  as  the  refuge  of  outcast  sick.  It  is  considered  a 
very  unfortunate  thing  for  a  house  in  Korea  to  have  one 
die  in  it.  When  the  servants  are  taken  sick  with  a  mal- 
ady likely  to  prove  fatal,  or  have  any  of  the  infectious 
or  contagious  diseases  so  rife  here,  they  are  sent  away 
outside  this  city  to  live  in  tents,  alone  and  deserted,  or 
perhaps  often  without  the  shelter  those  poor  tents 
afford." 

This  long  quotation  is  here  given  to  indicate  the  i)lan 
on  which  the  medical  work  was  inaugurated,  and  on 
which,  as  far  as  practicable,  it  continued  to  be  carried 
out. 

One  of  the  first  patients  in  the  hospital  was  picked  up 
on  the  city  wall,  where  she  was  carried,  with  an  infant, 
to  die  alone.  The  woman's  life  was  saved,  and  the 
infant  became  a  pupil  in  the  Girls'  School.  Tliis  was  not 
an  isolated  case. 

The  political  condition  in  Korea  was  such  that  ag- 
gressive Christian  work,  even  if  tlie  language  had  been 
sufficiently  known,  was  not  thought  of  at  this  time. 
But  the  missionaries  could  not  be  expected  long  to  hold 
their  peace.  In  the  quiet  of  tlie  home,  in  the  sick- 
room, in  the  school-room,  by  the  wayside,  they  sought 
to  drop  the  good  seed,  and  the  seed  took  root.  The 
word  spoken  with  stammering  tongue  found  an  entrance. 
Liglit  came,  and  with    it  a  desire   to   enter   the   visible 


Annual  Meeting,  1 886- 1887.  507 

Church  of  Christ.  On  Sunday  afternoon,  July  24,  in 
the  quiet  of  a  room  in  his  own  house,  with  drawn  cur- 
tains, Mr.  Appenzeller  had  the  great  joy  to  baptize  the 
first  Korean  who  professed  conversion  to  Christianity. 
He  was  a  young  man,  a  student  in  the  school,  and  had 
first  heard  of  the  Christian  religion  while  in  Japan. 

The  work  opened  encouragingly. 

On  October  2,  in  the  same  room  and  at  Mr.  Appen- 
zeller's  hands,  the  second  Korean  convert  received 
baptism.  These  men  were  gathered  into  aclass  and  met 
for  worship  in  a  private  house,  in  a  room  eight  feet  square. 
There  were  four  Koreans  present.  The  next  Sunday 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered. 
The  Sunday  following  Mr.  Appenzeller  baptized  the 
wife  of  the  Korean  whom  he  employed  as  a  colporteur. 
In  all  probability  she  was  the  first  woman  in  Korea  to 
make  a  public  profession  of  Christianity.  She  seemed 
to  be  doing  well  for  awhile,  but  on  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band a  {tw  years  later  she  went  back  to  her  own  people 
and  her  heathen  gods. 

On  Christmas-day,  which  this  year  fell  on  Sunday, 
Mr.  Appenzeller  made  his  first  attempt  at  formal 
preaching.  The  text  was  :  "Thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus,  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  Dr. 
Scranton  was  present  and  assisted  in  this  service.  These 
two  young  men  stood  faithfully  side  by  side  from  the 
beginning,  and  it  was  proper  that  they  should  be  together 
in  this  formal  opening  service. 

The  relations  between  China  and  Korea  had  been 
intimate,  if  not  at  all  times  pleasantly  so,  for  centuries. 
The  Annual  Embassy  from  Seoul  bearing  tribute  still 
makes  its  long  and  winding  way  over  the  thousand  miles 
between  Seoul  and  Peking.     It  always  had  its  full  quota 


5o8  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

of  merchants  and  adventurers  in  addition  to  those  di- 
rectly connected  with  the  union.  Many  of  them  came 
in  contact  with  foreign  missionaries  in  Moukdcn,  Peking, 
and  Tientsin.  They  heard  the  truth,  received  Christian 
books,  and  when  stranded,  as  they  were  in  some  cases, 
received  help.  In  this  way  the  Rev.  John  Ross,  of 
Moukden,  came  into  contact  with  many  Koreans.  He 
was  so  impressed  with  tlie  necessity  of  doing  somctliing 
to  bring  the  Gospel  to  them  that  he  employed  several 
Koreans,  two  of  whom  afterward  became  members  of 
tlie  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to  translate  the  New 
Testament  into  their  own  tongue.  He  succeeded  in 
securing  the  translation  of  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  thousands  of  copies,  mostly  of  the  gospels, 
had  been  distributed  among  tlie  people.  Korea  had 
been  entered  from  China,  and  not  a  few  in  the  north- 
western province  of  Ping  Ang  had  some  knowledge  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

The  missionaries  in  Seoul  heard  soon  after  their  ar- 
rival <jf  the  work  done  from  China.  Reports  came  of 
men  wlio  wanted  instruction  and  baptism.  These  be- 
came louder  and  louder,  but  it  was  not  until  the  spring 
of  1887  that  a  visit  could  be  made  to  those  regions  be- 
yond. In  April  and  May  of  this  year  Mr.  Appenzeller 
undertook  this  journey  of  nearly  two  hundred  miles  to 
Pyeng  Yang.  It  was  miv.^t  interesting,  especially  as  be- 
ing the  first  ever  undertaken  by  a  missionary  in  that  di- 
rection, and  was  productive  of  good.  Fifty  miles  from 
Seoul  is  the  cai)ital  of  the  country  during  the  last  dynasty. 
This  is  a  city  of  75,000  inhabitants,  situated  in  the  midst 
of  ginseng  farms.  Ginseng  is  famous  in  China  for  its 
medicinal  qualities,  and  large  quantities  are  sent  there 
annually,  the   revenue   of  which   is   said    to   amount   to 


Annual  Meeting,  1 886-1 887.  5^9 

§200,000.  Thence  the  route  lay  over  rough  mountains 
through  the  magistracies  of  Kim  Chun,  Pyeng  San,  Se 
Hung,  Pong  San,  Hwoang  Chow,  and  Choung  Hwoa,  all 
important  centers  where  Christian  work  could  be  inau- 
gurated. 

After  journeying  two  weeks  they  arrived  at  Pyang 
Yang,  tjie  capital  of  Korea  a  thousand  years  ago,  the 
city  founded  by  Ki  7/'^,  the  founder  of  Korean  civiliza- 
tion, a  city  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the  beautiful  Ta 
Tong  River,  and  famous  as  the  place  of  the  murdering 
of  the  crew  and  burning  of  the  "General  Sherman."  It 
is  now  the  capital  of  Ping  An  Do,  a  busy,  bustling  town 
of  75, 000  people.  Here  they  found  a  dozen  or  more 
men  interested  in  the  new  faith.  They,  however,  re- 
ceived word  from  the  American  Minister  in  Seoul  that 
since  their  departure  from  the  capital  he  had  received 
from  the  Korean  Foreign  Office,  by  order  of  his  majesty, 
the  king,  a  dispatch  stating  that  it  is  well  known  to  the 
Korean  Government  that  Americans  residing  in  Korea 
are  engaged  in  different  ways  in  disseminating  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  religion;  citing  the  fact  that  it  is 
objectionable  to  the  Government,  not  authorized  by  the 
treaty,  and  demanding  that  it  sliall  cease.  He  added  : 
"  My  aid  as  the  Minister  of  the  United  States  being  in- 
voked to  this  end,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  request  that  you 
will  refrain  from  teaching  the  Christian  religion  and  ad- 
ministering its  rites  and  ordinances  to  the  Korean  peo- 
ple." This  was  a  temporary  check  to  our  work.  The 
meetings  in  the  capital  were  suspended,  and  the  men 
traveling  in  the  country  returned  home.  Their  prompt 
acquiescence  had  a  very  good  effect  upon  the  Govern- 
ment, and  enabled  them,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  months, 
to  reopen  their  work. 


5IO  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

In  May  of  this  year  tlie  mission  was  further  re-enforced 
by  the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  George  Heber  Jones,  one  of 
the  youngest  missionaries  the  Church  ever  sent  abroad, 
he  being  on  the  field  a  few  months  before  he  attained 
his  majority.  He  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  lan- 
guage with  enthusiasm  and  engaged  in  educational  work. 

Bishop  Warren  visited  Korea  in  September,  1887, 
and  greatly  cheered  the  missionaries  by  his  counsels. 
He  was  the  first  Bishop  of  any  Protestant  Church  to 
visit  the  Hermit  Nation. 

He  spent  over  a  week  in  the  capital  and  helped  to 
lay  broad  the  foundations  of  the  mission.  He  opened 
the  College  Hall,  and  in  the  presence  of  high  Korean 
officials  announced  tliat  this  building  was  "America's 
gift  to  Korea." 

4.  Annual  Meeting,  1888-1890. 

Tlie  fourth  Annual  Meeting  was  presided  over  by 
Bishop  Fowler  in  September,  1888.  Though  only  a  lit- 
tle more  tlian  a  year  since  the  first  baptism,  llie  reports 
now  showed  11  members,  27  ])robationers,  and  an  aver- 
age attendance  of  55  ;  Sunday-school  scholars,  43. 

The  departments  of  the  work  in  18S8  were  enlarged. 
Rev.  F.  Ohlinger  and  family  joined  the  mission  in  Jan- 
nary.  Mr.  Ohlinger  had  been  a  missionary  in  Foochow 
for  a  number'  of  years,  and  his  long  experience  and 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language  were  found  very 
valuable  in  Korea. 

In  the  school  the  new  college  hall  was  comi)leted  and 
thrown  open  to  the  young  men  of  the  land.  Tlie  hos- 
pital continued  to  be  a  ])ower  for  good.  Preaching  serv- 
ices were  held  regularly  on  the  Sabbath. 

Superintendent  Appenzeller  still  felt  the  necessity  of 


Annual  Meeting,  1 888-1 890.  51 1 

going  "to  those  in  tlie  region  beyond,"  which  he  had 
visited  in  1887 — to  explore  the  country,  at  least,  if  no 
direct  work  could  be  done.  ^Vith  this  object  in  view,  in 
company  with  the  Rev.  H.  G.  Underwood,  D.D.,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Mission,  he  started  for  the  far  north,  or 
Chinese  border.  Medicines,  books,  and  tracts  were 
sold  on  the  way.  The  people  were  anxious  to  obtain 
the  medicines,  and  did  not  object  to  the  literature.  In-- 
quirers  were  found  at  several  places,  with  whom  books 
were  left. 

Bishop  Fowler  left  the  impress  of  his  personality  on 
the  mission.  The  school  was  established,  and  the  first 
steps  toward  making  it  a  university  were  taken  when  a 
petition  to  that  effect  was  filed  in  the  United  States  Le- 
gation. The  university  did  not  exist  in  tangible  shape, 
but  the  foundations  were  laid  broad  and  deep  on  which 
it  would  be  reared. 

One  of  the  more  direct  results  of  the  Bishop's  visit 
was  the  starting  of  a  general  hospital.  The  Bishop 
thoroughly  approved  of  the  plans  of  Dr.  Scranton  in  this 
direction,  and  immediate  steps  were  taken  to  secure  a 
suitable  piece  of  ground  on  the  main  street  by  the  Great 
South  Gate. 

The  calls  from  the  north  continued  to  come,  and  it 
was  thought  advisable  to  make  a  visit  to  We  Choo,  the 
gateway  to  China,  a  city  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  Seoul.  In  October  Mr.  Appenzeller  started  on  his 
long  and  hard  journey,  stopping  at  Pyeng  Yang  over 
Sunday,  and  the  following  Saturday  entered  We  Choo, 
making  the  distance  in  twelve  days.  Here  he  found  a 
few  men  who  professed  faith  in  Christ  who  had  been 
baptized  in  China.  He  himself  baptized  on  confession 
of  faith  eleven  men,  organized  them  into  a  class,  and 


512  Methodist  Episc<jpal  Missions. 

bought  a  house  to  be  used  as  a  place  of  worship.  On 
Iiis  return  trij)  he  baptized  four  men  at  Pyeng  Yang  and 
organized  them  into  a  class.  Some  interesting  incidents 
might  be  given.  In  Pyeng  Yang  he  met  a  Korean  doc- 
tor, a  man  who  had  spent  some  time  in  China.  He  had 
a  small  boy  with  him  as  his  groom.  The  boy  showed 
little  or  no  interest  in  the  conversation,  not  even  when 
the  doctor  proposed  to  place  him  in  the  mission  school 
to  learn  English.  When  the  Koreans  arrived  in  Seoul 
they  Came  to  see  Mr.  Appenzeller,  and  arrangements 
were  made  to  place  the  boy  in  the  school.  He  at  once 
applied  himself  with  zeal  to  his  new  studies,  learned  the 
art  of  printing  and  in  that  way  paid  his  own  expenses, 
was  regular  in  attendance  upon  the  services  on  Sundays, 
professed  conversion,  was  received  into  the  church,  and 
became  a  valuable  worker  in  the  mission. 

The  question  of  self-support  received  the  earnest  at- 
tention of  the  missionaries.  In  the  fall  of  this  year  Mr. 
Ohlinger,  on  the  request  of  the  Superintendent,  opened 
a  printing  establishment  as  an  aid  to  the  school.  Mr. 
Ohlinger  visited  Japan,  made  the  necessary  purchases, 
and  was  at  work  before  the  Korean  Government  had 
time  to  make  the  usual  objection  that  the  importation 
"of  such  machines  was  prohibited  by  the  treaty."  Some 
brilliant  cases  of  failure  in  this  line  of  self-sujjport  might 
be  cited,  but  the  principle,  as  well  as  the  printing  press, 
was  established. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  188S,  two  men  were 
licensed  local  preachers.  One  of  these  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  work  in  Pyeng  Yang;  the  other  lived  in 
Seoul,  taught  Chinese  in  the  mission  school  during  the 
week,  and  assisted  in  the  services  on  Sundays.  Two 
other   men,  members  of  the   school,  tried  to  sell  books 


i\^ 


M,l< 


mm 


Annual  Meeting,  1888-1890.  515 

during  the  summer  vacation,  but  their  success  was 
small.     The  time  was  not  ripe  for  this  kind  of  work. 

The  medical  department  of  the  work  reported  in  its 
first  year  800  patients,  in  its  second  year  1,970,  and 
this  year  5,500.  Four  men  enrolled  as  medical  students 
were  employed  as  assistants. 

The  Woman's  work  gave  great  promise  of  usefulness. 
May  31,  1 886,  the  school  opened  with  the  first  pupil. 
Twenty  others  had  since  been  enrolled  ;  sixteen  were 
now  making  progress  in  their  studies.  The  Home  and 
School  building  was  completed.  Twenty-two  straw  huts 
and  six  small  tiled  houses  on  an  unsightly  strip  of  land, 
the  original  purchase,  had  given  way  to  a  building  90 
X85  feet,  having  a  center  court  40x45  feet,  with  accom- 
modations for  thirty-six  girls,  at  a  round  outlay  of 
$6,000. 

The  hospital  and  dispensary  property  of  the  Woman's 
Society  was  formerly  the  residence  of  a  Korean  gentleman. 
The  king  voluntarily  sent  a  name  for  this  building,  as  he 
had  done  for  Mr.  Appenzeller's  school.  It  became  Po  Goo 
Nijo  Goan,  or  House  for  Many  Sick  Women.  The 
building  was  a  framework  of  strong  wooden  beams  on  a 
stone  foundation,  the  walls  being  a  network  of  twigs 
plastered  with  mud  inside  and  out;  tlie  roof  was  of  tiles. 
It  had  a  capacity  for  ten  in-patients.  A  high  wooden 
screen  at  the  entrance  gate  served  to  keep  all  men  out- 
side the  hospital,  and  women  of  rank  felt  secure  in  its 
seclusion. 

William  B.  McGill,  M.D.,  and  wife  joined  the  mission 
on  August  27,  18S9,  and  in  September  of  that  year 
Bishop  Andrews  held  the  fifth  session  of  the  Annual 
Meeting.  Dr.  Meta  Howard  returned  to  America  in 
September  on  account  of  ill  health. 


5i6  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

The  United  States  had  no  treaty  with  Korea  by  which 
missionaries  Were  protected,  and  hence  they  were  in  the 
country  by  sufferance,  subject  to  abrui)t  intervention  of 
the  will  of  the  king  at  any  hour,  and  the  king  had  now 
commanded  them  to  cease  to  teach  the  people.  This 
interdict  was  the  princi|)al  feature  under  discussion  at 
the  Annual  Meeting.  The  medicid  work  was  not  un- 
derstood to  be  included  in  the  royal  edict,  and  Drs. 
Scranton  and  McGill  and  the  Woman's  Hospital  con- 
ducted their  work  as  usual.  The  prompt  compliance 
wiih  the  order  of  the  king  on  the  part  of  the  missiona- 
ries made  a  favorable  impression  on  Government  authori- 
ties and  tended  to  shorten  the  period  of  the  interrup- 
tion, which  was  understood  to  be  merely  negative  in  its 
purpose  and  spirit — in  nowise  indicating  royal  antago- 
nism, but  a  measure  rendered  necessary  by  some  special 
temporary  political  complications. 

Mr.  Appenzeller  had  in  his  exploring  itineraries  trav- 
eled over  1, 800  miles,  1,400  of  which  were  made  on 
horseback.  He  visited  Hiahui,  Kongchou,  and  Fusan, 
making  a  tour  of  six  of  the  eight  provinces  of  the  king- 
dom. In  the  Fusan  tri[)  Mr.  Jones  accompanied  Mr. 
Appenzeller. 

Miss  Margaret  J.  Bengel  and  Rebecca  Rosewood, 
M.D.,  arrived  in  Korea  in  1890,  but  no  Bishop  visited 
Korea  this  year. 

The  first  Quarterly  Conference  in  Korea  was  organized 
in  Seoul  this  year,  where  the  Church  was  in  complete 
operation  and  some  of  the  members  were  contributing 
one  tenth  of  their  income  to  the  Church.  Dr.  Scranton, 
Mr.  Ohlinger,  and  Mr.  Jones  all  made  progress  in  trans- 
lating some  elementary  literature,  such  as  the  Catechism, 
creed,  Articles  of  Religion,  and  the  revision  of  Luke. 


Annual  Meeting,  1891-1893,  517 

5.  Annual  Meeting,  1891-1893. 

The  seventh  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  was  held* 
June  10-13,  1891,  Bishop  Goodsell  presiding. 

Mr.  Jones  made  a  trip  this  year  with  his  native  helper 
to  the  Korean-Chinese  boundary  in  the  north,  occupy- 
ing thirty-two  days  and  extending  over  750  miles  of 
territory,  visiting  thirty  large  cities  and  districts,  preach- 
ing as  they  could  find  opportunity,  and  disposing  by  sale 
of  329  Scripture  copies  and  other  Christian  books. 

Miss  Ella  A.  Lewis  arrived  for  work  of  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

The  eighth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  mission  convened 
August  25-September  5,  1892,  Bishop  Mallalieu  presid- 
ing. Rev.  W.  A.  Noble,  of  the  Upper  Iowa  Conference, 
was  added  to  the  force,  and  Mary  F.  Cutler,  M.D.,  and 
Josephine  O.  Paine  re-enforced  the  women's  work.  Five 
new  circuits  were  added  to  the  appointments,  and  Seoul 
divided  into  two,  making  a  total  of  eight  separate 
charges.  The  new  circuits  were  Chemulpo,  the  port  of 
Korea,ChunjuKongju  Suwon,PyengYang,Tai-ku,We-ju, 
Wonsau.  Mr.  Noble  was  appointed  professor  in  the  col- 
lege, and  Dr.  Jones  president ;  Mr.  Hall  made  missionary 
at  Pyeng  Yang  and  in  charge  of  medical  work  there  ;  and 
Dr.  McGill  in  charge  of  medical  work  at  Wonsau.  Mr. 
Jones  was  in  charge  of  Chemulpo,  Mr.  Appenzeller  of 
Chonju,  and  Mr.  Ohlinger  of  Seoul.  Miss  Sherwood 
had  become  Mrs.  W.  J.  Hall. 

Bishop  Foster  held  the  ninth  Annual  Meeting  August 
31-September  8,  1893.  Dr.  Leonard,  Missionary  Sec- 
retary, accompanied  the  Bishop.  Mrs.  Keen  and 
daughter,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Miss  Hale,  of  North 
China,  were  also  visitors  on  this  occasion  ;  Mrs.  Keen 


5i8  Methodist  Eimscopai.  Missions. 

being  officially  designated  by  her  Society  to  visit  Korea, 
as  she  was  the  other  missions,  as  she  made  her  trip 
•round  the  world.  H.  B.  Hulbert  and  J.  B.  Busteed, 
M.D.,  joined  the  mission,  the  first  becoming  the  man- 
ager of  the  Press,  the  other  with  Dr.  Scranton  to  medical 
work  in  Seoul.  Miss  Mary  W.  Harris  and  Miss  Lulu  E. 
Frey  re-enforced  the  Woman's  Society. 

Mr.  Jones  was  appointed  to  Chemulpo  Circuit,  whither 
he  removed  at  once  after  conference.  He  secured  a 
Japanese  house  in  the  general  Foreign  Settlement.  The 
difficulties  were  many  :  the  transient  character  of  the 
population,  the  all-engrossing  mercenary  spirit,  heathen 
vices  intensified,  and  gross  ignorance  and  superstition. 
Being  the  port  of  Seoul,  the  vices  of  foreign  sailors  were 
added  to  those  of  the  native  heathen.  Intemperance 
abounded,  and  the  Kol  Bang  houses,  where  native  fe- 
male slaves  were  forcibly  confined  for  illicit  purposes, 
were  the  resort  of  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Koreans.  The 
main  territory  of  the  circuit  contained  a  half  million 
population,  mainly  agriculturists;  the  people  industrious, 
simple,  kind,  hospitable,  and  independent.  Sirimi  was 
the  first  outpost  occupied. 

In  November,  1892,  Mr.  Hall  visited  the  island  of 
Kangwha,  the  finest  field  for  work,  he  thought,  in  the 
eight  i)rovinces.  The  Korean  pastor,  on  a  visit  here, 
witnessed  the  first  burning  of  ancestral  tablets  known  to 
have  occurred  in  Korea.  Men  convinced  of  the  folly 
of  idolatry  gathered  these  symbols  of  idolatry  from 
their  homes,  and  took  them  to  the  graves  of  their 
fathers  and  burned  them.  A  school  was  opened  in 
Chemulpo  of  eleven  boy.s. 

The  college  at  Seoul  enrolled  fifty-six  boys  under  first 
instructors  in  English  and  classic   Chinese,  and  a  third 


Aiwual  Meetings  1 891-1893.  5^9 

lingual  was  contemplated  being  introduced,  the  vernacu- 
lar Onmiin,  willi  a  wonderfully  superior  and  simple 
alphabetic  character,  which  had  come  into  contempt  in 
the  presence  of  Chinese,  with  the  result  of  robbing 
Korea  of  a  purely  native  literature.  Tlie  school  was 
possessed  of  a  library  of  native  works,  unequaled  by 
those  owned  by  any  foreigners.  The  buildings  and  land 
of  a  new  enterprise,  named  the  I5aldwin  Chapel,  were 
owned  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and 
named  in  honor  of  Mrs.  L.  B.  Baldwin,  of  Cleveland, 
O.,  supposed  to  have  given  the  first  money  for  woman's 
work   in   Korea;  also  the  first  donation  to  this  chapel. 

Mrs.  Rosetta  Sherwood  Hall,  M.D.,  had  seen  a  steady 
development  of  the  work  in  the  Woman's  Hospital  at 
Seoul.  The  first  year  of  her  services  she  treated  2,476 
cases,  the  next  year  4,022,  and  this  year  6,260;  a  leap 
of  1,500  the  second  year  over  the  first,  and  now  of  2,000 
over  the  second  year,  with  a  corresponding  increase  in 
the  attendance  of  the  patients  on  Sunday  services,  this 
year  no  less  than  1,338  having  attended  Christian  wor- 
ship. She  had  also  opened  Baldwin  Dispensary,  three 
miles  distant  across  the  city.  Dr.  Cutler  had  come  to 
her  aid,  taking  charge  of  the  dispensary  on  the  days  Mrs. 
Hall  went  to  the  dispensaries  at  East  Gate  and  South 
Gate. 

Mr.  Hall  had  begun  personal  work  in  Pyeng  Yang 
Circuit,  embracing  the  territory  between  Seoul  and 
Pyeng  Yang,  a  distance  of  180  miles,  with  populations 
and  distance  from  Seoul  as  follows  :  Ko  Yang,  popula- 
tion, 3,500,  distant  13  miles  ;  Pa  Chau,  3,500,  distant 
27  miles  ;  Song  Do,  48,000,  distant  6^  miles  ;  Saw  Hung, 
2,800,  distant   no  miles;  Pong  San,  4,200,  distant  133 

miles;   Whang   Chu,   5,600,    distant    147   miles.     There 
34 


520  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions. 

were  now  21  members  in  Pyeng  Yang,  and  Dr.  Hall 
had  treated  3,237  patients  during  the  year. 

The  statistics  of  the  mission  now  exhibited  baptisms 
and  Sunday-school  attendance  of  the  year  as  follows  : 
Children  baptized,  20  ;  adults,  60  ;  total  80.  Sunday- 
schools,  5  ;  pupils,  133;  teachers,  16.  The  Church  mem- 
bership was  :  Chemulpo,  probationers,  23,  members  9  ; 
Pyeng  Yang,  probationers,  21  ;  Seoul,  in  three  circuits, 
probationers,  105,  members  54.  There  were  also  4 
native  preachers. 

The  Press  was  now  on  the  eve  of  an  entirely  new  de- 
velopment. "When  Mr.  Ohlinger  arrived  in  Korea  he  at 
once  began  the  initial  work  of  establishing  a  printing  es- 
tablishment. His  knowledge  of  Chinese  and  of  the 
printing  business  were  of  great  value.  He  originated 
and  conducted  while  in  Korea  the  "  Korean  Repository,'* 
a  general  monthly  magazine  on  Korean  topics  and  Korean 
interests.  It  was  suspended  after  the  first  year,  and 
then  its  publication  was  resumed.  The  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  the  development  of  a  publishing  house  lay  in  the 
sharp  economical  competitions  of  Japan  and  the  local 
Korean  printing  establishments, which  commanded  cheap 
labor,  had  large  plants,  and  could  do  printing  cheaper 
than  tlie  mission  in  Korea  could  do,  yet  the  Press  had 
always  been  self-supporting. 

It  had  this  year  (1893)  issued  1,360,180  pages,  nearly 
all  in  Korean,  and  under  H.  R.  Hulbert,  the  manager, 
was  rapidly  overcoming  all  obstacles,  and  within  less 
than  a  year  from  the  date  of  this  conference  it  printed 
gosi)els  and  epistles,  and  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  its 
''  Trilingual  Press  "'  and  bindery  were  an  acknowledged 
success.  Mr.  Hulbert  had  carefully  studied  the 
economic   conditions   of  press  and   publisliing   work   in 


Annual  Meeiing,  1 891-1893.  521 

Japan  and  Korea,  and  soon  was  able  to  overcome  the 
difficulty  and  uncertainty  of  the  Korean  printing  force. 
Mr.  Appenzeller  and  Dr.  Scranton  were  now  engaged, 
as  members  of  a  Committee  of  Translation,  to  render 
the  Scriptures  into  Korean,  it  having  been  found  that 
previous  translations  made  by  Rev.  John  Ross,  in  Mouk- 
den,  were  imperfect  and  ill  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
great  work  of  the  evangelization  of  Korea. 


APPENDIX. 


RECEIPTS  FROM  THE  BEGINNING, 


Dates. 


Contribut'ns 

by 
Conferences. 


Legacies. 


Sundries. 


Bible 
Society. 


Total. 


Received  during  the  year  1820 

1821 

1822 

"        "    1823 

"        "    1824 

"       "    1825 

"        "    1826 

*'        "    1827 

"       "    1828 

"       "    1829 

"        "    1830 

"        "    1831 

"        "    1832 

1833 

1834 

1835 

1836 

1837 


1839 
1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 
1844 

1845 
1846 
1847 
1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 
i860 
1861 
1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 
t866 
1867 
1S68 


J  a 


ly  1,  1849,  to  April  30, 
1850,  ^' 

1851, 

1853, '°  Dec.  31, 
,1854, 
'855, 
1856, 
1857, 
1858, 

1859, 
i860, 
i86r, 
1862, 
1863, 
1864, 
1S65, 
1866, 
1867, 


$138 
298, 
211 
204 
199 
247 
220 
243 
236 
222, 
241 
388 
497 
587 
641 
558 
575 


284  44 
473  39 
952  o 
464  86 
1996  59 
753  13 
,987  64 
863  44 
269  21 
709  28 
247  29 
109  18 
867  17 
569  41 
450  32 
520  35 
,624  90 


$2,804  68 

21,262  03 

4,930  74 

6,924  17 

7,784  81 

8,544  96 

8,813  55 

8,824  64 

10, log  97 

10,051  44 

12,874  78 

16,941  24 

22,172  93 

12,765  76 

13,636  79 

28,532  17 

11,909  36 


393  38 
232  97 
529  30 
815  01 
,660  52 
592  39 
423  42 
479  " 
343  59 
364  21 
,026  64 
743  33 
.953  16 
405  5° 
293  19 
468  44 
,627  43 


Ufa 

So; 
fcJO  ._ 


►"T3t/J 


pa  K.;2 

$200  00 

1,000  00 

500  00 

1,500  00 

2,100  00 

3,000  00 

1,100  00 

1,000  00 

3,300  00 

3,000  00 

5,500  00 
6,000 

4,250  00 

7,375  00 
12,975  00 
g,ooo  00 
11,000  00 
4,000  00 
5,500  00 
8,500  00! 


$823  04 

2,328  76 

2,547  39 

5,427  14 

3,589  92 

4,140  16 

4,964  II 

6,812  49 

6,245  17 

14,176  11 

13,128  63 

9,950  57 

11,379  66 

17,097  05 

35,700  15 

30,492  21 

59,517  16 

57,096  OS 

96,087  36 

132,480  29 

136,410  87 

139,925  76 

'39,473  25 

144,770  80 

146.578  78 
94,562  27 
89,528  26 
78,932  73 
81,600  34 
84,245  15 

105.579  54 
126,971  31 
151,982  50 
338,068  39 
226,412  05 
219,304  04 
238,441  92 
272,090  48 
258,224  61 
270,667  19 
262,722  77 
250,374  98 
272,523  71 
429,768  75 
558,993  26 
642,740  67 
686,380  30 
613,020  96 
606,661  69 


524 

Appendix. 

RECEIPTS  FROM  THE  BEGINNING.-Contlnued. 

Contribut'ns 

Bil.le 
Society. 

Dates. 

by 

Legacies. 

Sundries. 

Total. 

Conferences. 

Jan.  1,  1869,  to 

Uec.  31, 

1869 

$576,397  48 

$27,618    21 

$14,210  92 

$16,477  50 

$634,704   11 

1870,  to 

Oct.  31, 

1870 

576,774  10 

>2.'94  45 

5,775  22 

8,207  50 

602,951  27 

Nov.  1, 1870, 

1871 

603,421  70 

11,456  41 

8.581   14 

6,462  50 

629,921  75 

••         1871, 

1872 

627,641  60 

10,364  16 

3,250  84 

5,270  00 

666,326  60 

1872, 

1873 

647,103  76 

15,817  38 

'7.9'5  50 

9,6So  00 

690,516  64 

"873, 

1874 

618,004  99 

47.603  37 

9,471  96 

12,640  co|      687,720  32 

1874. 

187s 

613,927  12 

35.'23  '5 

'3,435  62 

10,536  00 

673,021   89 

•875, 

1876 

533.594  45 

51.338  09 

9,25s  84 

6,500  00 

600,688  38 

1876, 

1877 

566,765  66 

39.6'6  74 

22,594  85 

8,709  00 

637,686  25 

•877, 

1878 

477,166  15 

41,652  12 

32,546  78 

6,000  00 

557,365  05 

1878, 

1879 

480,428  80 

38,818  55 

32,611  95 

1,300  00 

553, '59  30 

'*         1879, 

1880 

500,182  46 

34,710  27 

22.478  41 

2,000  00 

559.37'   «4 

1880, 

1881 

570,965  77 

33,865  26 

20,832  86 

4,300  00 

629,963  89 

1881, 

18H2 

621,381  08 

48,601  09 

21,679  84 

4,100  00 

695,766  01 

1882, 

1883 

650,77'  54 

78,091  32 

22,606  04 

2,200  00 

753,669  90 

1883, 

1884 

652,188  99 

49,970  02 

28,966  85 

4,100  00 

735,225  86 

1884, 

i88s 

694,034  95 

101,901  83 

30,891  58 

4,200  00 

831,028  36 

1885, 

1886 

836.592  37 

133.958  21 

'4.752  89 

6,825  00 

992,128  47 

1886, 

1887 

932,208  91 

35,843  78 

71,318  22 

S.425  00 

',044.795  9' 

1887. 

1888 

928,596  38 

41,983  67 

23,476  19 

6,525  00 

1,000,581  24 

1888, 

1889 

1,014,082  09 

92,125  25 

19,080  46 

4,850  00 

1,130,137  80 

1889, 

1890 

1,051,642  04 

58,681  26 

20,748  52 

4,200  00 

','35.27'   82 

1890, 

1891 

1,100,713  04 

"7,5'5  44 

28,680  79 

4,150  00 

1,251,059  37 

1891, 

1892 

1,132,006  48 

122,678  46 

8,948  10 

4.350  00 

'.297.983  04 

1892, 

1893 
from  begin'g. 

I, '09,457  65 

74.436  37 

8, '39  75 

4.575  00 

1,196,608  77 

Total  receipts 

23,831,192  17 

1,564,852  88 

797,602  71 

244.382  50 

28,338,693  74 

ACTUAL  DISBURSEMENTS  TO  FOREIGN  FIELDS.       * 

COUNTR 

ES. 

Years. 

Amount. 

A  frica 

1834-1894 
1836-1894 
1847-1894 

809,661 
885,098 

China  :     Koochow 

1870-1894 
1870-1894 
1881-1894 
1855-1868 

589,11a 
676,113 
111,158 
236,369 

North 

West 

Scandinavia:  ^i 

orway,  Sweden,  Denmark 

Norway,  Den 

1868-1894 
1870-1894 
1868-1894 
1892-1894 
1850-1894 
1886-1894 
1856-1894 
1893-1894 
1876-1894 
1887-1894 
1874-1894 
1889-1894 
1857-1894 
1871-1894 
1875-1894 
1873-1894 
1885-1894 

285,697 

317.585 

593.7'o 

4,019 

vitzerland 

78,628 
2,510,436 

41,299 
217,614 
139,182 

28,75s 

Italy 

711,004 
851.370 
889  407 

Korea 

at 

151,008 

Grand  tot 

$12,533,767 

Appendix, 


525 


II. 
GROWTH  IN  MEMBERSHIP, 
Africa.  I 


1835 204 

1845 837 

1855 i)405 

1865 1,493 

1875 2,300 

1885 2,503 

1894 3,71s 


South  America. 


1840 
i860 


1894, 

1857 
1867 


China  :  FoocHOW. 


40 

79 

495 

1,865 

3,176 

3 
454 


1877 2,093 

1887 3,446 

1894    9,452 


1874 
1884 
1894 

1874 
1884 


China  :  Central. 


China  :  North. 


51 
218 
586 


30 
561 


1894 2,862 

China  :  Wkst. 


1894 i( 

Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark. 
1857 i! 


1867 


Norway  and  Denmark. 

1879 712 

1889 1,782 

1894 2,721 


Norway. 

870 1,001 

880 3.007 

890 5,132 

5,048 


894 

869. 

879 

889, 

894 

892, 
894 


Sweden. 


Finland. 


1,326 
8,987 
16,203 
16,105 

592 
747 


Germany  and  Switzerland. 

854 376 

864 4,132 


Switzerland 


North  India. 


8,921 
12,864 
11,996 

5,296 
6,993 


874, 
884. 
894. 

886, 
894 

858 
868 
878 

888 7,9'9 

894 33,051 

Northwest  India. 


29 

435 
2,526 


Sq"?    . 

.   15,862 

8cu 

.  25,265 

876  .. 

South  India. 

.     1,621 

886 

•     1,983 

894  .. 

883 

887 

Bengal- Burma. 

•     1,3^8 

894.. 

.     1,519 

526 


Bom  HAY. 

1893 1.799 

1891 


1889, 
1894. 


1868. 
1878. 
1888 
1894, 

1873 


Malaysia. 


Bulgaria. 


Italy. 


\PPENDIX 

1883. 

^799 
».7<J9 

.894. 

1875- 
1SS5  . 
1894  . 

•873  - 
188-5. 

107 

414 

13 

5' 

144 

223 

1894. 

55 

1887. 
■894. 

Mexico. 


Jai'an. 


Korea. 


1,065 

I.S55 


217 
1.361 
3,406 


49 

943 

4,006 


4 
235 


Note. — Year  first  given  is  fir;,!  year  statistics  appear.     The  figures  includes 
prubationers. 


Appendix. 


527 


SUMMARY  OF  THE  DOMESTIC  MISSIONS,  1894. 


MISSIONS. 


American  Indians..  .  . 

Welsh 

Frencli 

German 

Scandinavian , 

Ciiinese  and  Japanese. 

Bohemian 

Italian 

Portuguese 

Arizona 

Black  Hills 

Gulf  Mission 

Nevada 

Mew  Mexico  English. 
New  Mexico  Spanish. 

North  Montana 

Utah 

Wyoming 

Total 


1,220 
240 

178 

17,018 

11,125 

755 

4f>5 

210 

18 

588 

1,025 
353 
91S 
642 

1,556 
473 

1,044 
694 


310 
17 

78 
2,560 


^5 


830 

280 

213 

17,700 


1,600  10,210 


359 

123 

80 

22 

60 

280 

104 

193 
142 

725 

84 

246 

160 


39,522    7,14344,376 


555 

1,894 

500 

15 
1,065 
1,700 

465 
2,450 
1,267 

881 
1,167 

1,914 
1,270 


$17,575 

29,150 

800 

1,130,000 

714,000 

36,000 

22,000 

3,500 


57,800 
45,700 
5,000 
65,150 
44,400 
26,700 
30,051 
179,900 
68,500 


$2,476,226 


0)   o 

>■ 

i)    , 


$4,400 


190,000 
100,870 


17,100 
8,600 
1,500 
21,200 
10,000 
19,300 

8,075 

64,500 
10,000 


$463,545 


Princeton  Theological  Seminanj  Libraries 


1    1012  01233   8564 


Date  Due 


■■!■'" 


G04 


m. 


.'i.  1  ■.'lUltO 


^|S\.«W9^VW^VA!RW 


